José Vitor Leme
José Vitor Leme Batista is a Brazilian professional rodeo cowboy who specializes in bull riding. He is the 2020, 2021 and 2025 Professional Bull Riders World Champion, and holds the record on the bull Woopaa for the highest-scored ride in PBR history with 98.75 points. From 2022 through 2025, he rode for the Austin Gamblers in the PBR Team Series. He was the PBR Team Series Regular-Season MVP in 2022 and 2023. The Austin Gamblers won the PBR Team Series Championship title in 2024. Leme is one of three bull riders to have won three PBR world championships; the other two being fellow Brazilians Adriano Morães and Silvano Alves.
In 2023, Leme was ranked No. 5 on the list of the top 30 bull riders in PBR history.
Background
José Vitor Leme Batista was born in Ribas do Rio Pardo, Mato Grosso do Sul, on August 15, 1996. As early as seven years old, he started riding calves. However, his parents separated and divested their bulls. Leme went to live with his mother, Sylvia. Thereafter, he became interested in soccer and played 11 years. He became a semi-professional player. He was also simultaneously learning karate. But being a bull rider was still his desire. In Brazil, most often an invitation is required for elite events. He finally got an opportunity when he was 18 years old. It was in Rochedo, near his mother Sylvia, who lived in Campo Grande. He pedaled six miles to the event and back to attend. His first ride, he got called for a slap.That was the beginning of his bull riding career. He often had to walk or ride a bicycle to events. His father assisted him by buying some of his equipment. Leme improvised with equipment maintenance, traveling costs, and assorted other costs. Leme claims soccer has many moves that translate to bull riding. It was a hard road to get to the big tour.
Career highlights
Leme was a semi-professional soccer player before entering the professional bull riding circuit. At 21 years of age, Leme came to the United States for the first time to compete in the PBR's Premier Series.2017 season
This season, Leme competed on the PBR Brazil tour. That was his debut tour season. He earned an above average score of 82.61. In the finals, he made a qualified ride, took first place, and won $29,743.62. He won three events that season. This included the PBR Brazil National Finals at the well-known Barretos Rodeo in Barretos, São Paulo, on August 17. He was named the PBR Brazil Champion and PBR Brazil Rookie of the Year. This earned him a spot on the PBR Velocity Tour Finals in the United States.At the Velocity Tour Finals, he went 3 for 4. He placed 8th at the event, and won $1,800. He earned a spot in the PBR World Finals held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Through a five-day event, Leme rode six bulls in a row and won the World Finals event title, as well as the PBR Rookie of the Year title. This was a huge accomplishment for Leme, as he did not compete in any regular season events in the United States. At the World Finals, he won $416,000, of which $300,000 was the World Finals event champion bonus.
2018 season
In this season, Leme competed on the PBR tour with outs from November 2017 through November 2018. On November 9 through 10, 2017, Leme competed at the PBR's inaugural Global Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, as a member of Team Brazil. He won $13,512.26 at the event. Though this event took place after the 2017 PBR World Finals and occurred during the 2017 calendar year, points won counted towards the 2018 PBR world standings. On December 16, 2017, at the Velocity Tour event in Kearney, Nebraska, he made a qualified ride, and earned $7,662.32 in winnings. On June 8 through 9, Leme again competed at the PBR Global Cup as a member of Team Brazil. The 2018 edition of the event took place in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He placed 10th in the event and won $46,772.03. On October 27, 2018, at the Velocity Tour event in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he earned $6,700 in winnings. He competed in the Velocity Tour Finals on October 31 and November 1, where he placed 8th and won $4,600. On November 7 through 11, he competed in the PBR World Finals, went 4 for 6, came in 2nd place, and earned $251,000 at the event.2019 season
In this season, Leme competed on the PBR tour the entire year with outs from November 2018 through November 2019. He started his season on the Velocity Tour, in Corpus Christi, Texas. On the Unleash the Beast Series, in New York City, he won his first event of the 15/15 Bucking Battle. Then, in March, he won the UTB event in Duluth, Georgia. In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he also won that event, which moved him into first place in the PBR world standings. He lost the No. 1 position briefly, but after winning a couple more regular season events, won it back. Those events were in Anaheim, California, and Springfield, Missouri.Leme competed in the Velocity Tour Finals, and went 2 for 3 to win the Velocity Tour Finals event average and year-end tour championship. On November 6 through 10, he competed at the PBR World Finals. Jess Lockwood was unstoppable. He put up four 90-point rides, which pulled him past Leme, who finished second in the final world standings. Leme led the tour in regular season 90-point rides with 11, round wins of 18, and qualified rides of 47. He won $119,333.33 at the World Finals.
2020 season
In this season, Leme competed on the PBR's UTB series the entire year, with outs from January through November.On August 22, at the UTB event in Salt Lake City, Utah, Leme rode Chiseled for 94 points.
On September 10–12, at the UTB event in Billings, Montana, Leme rode all five out of his five bulls over the weekend. He won the 15/15 Bucking Battle as well by riding World Champion bull Smooth Operator for 94.25 points. That was his eighth 90-point score of the season and the highest marked ride of the regular season. He got himself to No. 1 for the event by riding Zero Time in Round 3 for 89.75 points. He then rode Bad Decisions in the Championship Round for 89.75 points for the regular event win. Leme now had seven Premier Series wins this season. The record was eight, set by two-time PBR world champion Justin McBride in 2007. This brought closer to another record; he had 15 rounds won this season, while J.B. Mauney held the record with 19 rounds in 2013. Leme earned $40,575 for the weekend. He had increased his lead over the No. 2 spot held by Joao Ricardo Vieira.
On November 5–6, Leme competed at the Velocity Tour Finals in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but unfortunately bucked off both his long round bulls.
PBR World Finals
In November, at the PBR World Finals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Leme clinched the world championship by covering Woopaa for 95.75 points in Round 3. This also garnered him the Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award for highest marked ride of the PBR World Finals that year. At that time, that ride tied for the third-highest scored ride at a PBR World Finals. He won $1,080,500 this year for that title.Season summary
He spent 17 out of 22 weeks as No. 1 in the PBR world standings, winning his first world championship. He also won seven UTB events, 16 rounds, had 44 qualified rides out of 65 outs, nine 90-point rides, a riding percentage of 67.69%, and $1.6 million in total earnings.2021 season
In this season, Leme competed from January through November. A new record for highest scored ride in PBR history was set in the summer of 2021, when Jose Vitor Leme rode Woopaa for 97.75 points in Tulsa, Oklahoma during that event's 15/15 Bucking Battle. He also competed in the Velocity Tour Finals again. He also became a two-time PBR World Champion. He won $1,871,257.92 including $1,401,800 in the World Finals this year.PBR World Finals
Leme started out this season this year by breaking an ankle. A few events prior to the World Finals, he also managed to re-injure his groin and sustain a core muscle injury. These injuries caused him to miss nine events. And yet, numerous records were broken during this season. The World Finals returned to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During round 1, Eli Vastbinder won this round with a 91-point ride on Manaba. 2016 PBR world champion Cooper Davis won second with 90.75 on Juju. Leme rode his first bull to place sixth.Mexican rider Álvaro Álvarez won a wildcard spot to the World Finals as a result of being the highest placing international invitee at the conclusion of the Velocity Tour Finals. He won Round 2 by riding Detroit Lean for 92 points. Cody Teel was second in the round. He received a 91.75 pioint for riding Kid Knapper. Four others tied for fourth. Leme got his second ride of the week, finishing in ninth place.
In Round 3, No. 2 rider and 2018 PBR world champion Kaique Pacheco won with a 91.25 ride on First Down. Mason Taylor rode Walking Tall for 90.50 points and second place. Vastbinder was back again with 90 points to be fourth by riding Hell on the Red. He had just been injured earlier in that round. He rode that re-ride bull with those injuries. By this time, only Leme and Taylor had ridden all three of their bulls. Leme had ridden his third bull, finishing 14th.
In Round 4, Leme won the fourth round by riding WSM'S Jive Turkey for 92.50 points and increasing his lead for the world title. Following Leme was Mauricio Gulla Moreira. Marco Eguchi was third, and Vastbinder hung on for fifth. Again, it was just Leme and Taylor who had ridden all their bulls, going 4 for 4.
In Round 5, Vastbinder, who could barely walk or breathe, managed to ignore his injuries and ride Medicine Man for a 92.75 points for the round win. He made four 90-point rides in the World Finals. Leme rode his bull, Top Shelf for 91.25.
In the Championship Round, Leme rode Woopaa for 98.75, breaking the record for the highest scored ride in PBR history. Leme's rider score was a perfect 50 points, another record. Woopaa's bull score was 48.75, just a quarter point shy of the highest bull score in PBR history.
By winning, Leme became the second back-to-back PBR World Champion. He also became the seventh rider to win multiple PBR world championships. He rode Woopaa to break the highest scored PBR ride twice. He had first broken the record in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the 15/15 Bucking Battle with 97.75. Leme won the world title by riding all six of his bulls at the World Finals. He, like J.B. Mauney, who did it in 2013, became one of two riders to win both the world title and World Finals event average by successfully riding all their bulls at the event. Leme successfully rode 49 bulls of 71 total outs this season. He tied the record with 2-time PBR world champion Justin McBride for most Premier Series event wins in a single season with eight, and also broke the record for most 90-point rides in a single season set by 1999 PBR world champion Cody Hart, who put together 16 during his championship season, while Leme put together 24. Leme was also now fifth in all-time money won by PBR riders with earnings over $5 million. Eli Vastbinder won Rookie of the Year. Woopaa won the World Champion Bull and Bull of the World Finals titles. The ABBI Classic World Champion Bull was Juju.