The Thunder EquiGames boasts the best fight in the business with the largest payout to date. Co-promoting our event with the legendary Denny Gentry is Rob Smets, 5-Time World Champion Freestyle Bullfighter.
| Freestyle BullFight Competition Details: | ||||||
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| Total Prize Payout $49,500 | ||||||
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| 1st - $15,000, 2nd - $9,000, 3rd - $6,000 | ||||||
| For further information on the freestyle format contact Thunder EquiGames Office 505.898.1755 weekdays 8 to 5 MDT. | ||||||
Rob Smets Career Highlights Include:
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For the history of Rob, here is an excerpt from RobSmets.com:
"I didn't grow up around rodeo," Smets said. "I never even started rodeoing until my sophomore year in high school. Back in the '70s at the high school rodeos I was roping and riding bulls. I kept popping off to the bullfighters, so they told me to try it. I decided I'd rather get chased by 'em than get on their backs. That adrenaline rush and all the near misses were pretty cool, and I've been at it ever since.
" After all these years, Smets remains at the top of his game. In 2000, by a vote of the best bull riders in the world, he worked both the PBR Bud Light Cup World Championships and the National Finals Rodeo.
"The guys select the bullfighters, and that's the way it should be because their lives are on the line," said four-time World Champion Bull Rider Tuff Hedeman. "The fact that they vote for Rob means he's still the guy they want out there.
"One thing about Rob Smets is, when you're in a jam you know he's going to be right there in the middle of it. He's always right in the middle of it. He's always jumping in there. Rob's a tough guy. You aren't going to meet a tougher guy. People need to remember that when you're riding, you might face one or two bulls a night. The bullfighters have to face 45-60 bulls a night.
"Smets earned his "Kamikaze Kid" nickname straight out of the blocks, and has continued to earn it every year of his storied career.
"The first time I saw Rob he flew into El Paso to fight Harry Vold's No. 45, Purple People Eater," Hedeman remembers. "He was the meanest SOB in the world at that time. But Rob wasn't scared."
"When I was riding, I always felt good when I knew Rob was there, because if things got ugly I knew he'd be right in the middle of it," said longtime cowboy great Cody Lambert. "And I can still see that in him today. The greatest bullfighters don't hesitate, and Rob's still one of the great bullfighters."
Smets fought his way back from two broken necks to retain his top billing. In March of 1992, he tangled legs with a bull at the rodeo in Monroe, La., and the bull stumbled and fell on top of him. He suffered a break of the C-4-5-6 vertebrae, which is the same injury that landed former Detroit Lyon Mike Uttley in a wheelchair. Doctors fused the three vertebrae with pins, wire and bone, and told Smets to look for a new line of work.
But they didn't know Smets. He worked his way back to the top and won the fifth of his Wrangler Bullfight Tour gold buckles in 1994.
But in 1996, at the rodeo in Memphis, Tenn., a bull torpedoed Smets head-first into the barrelman's barrel and broke his C-1 vertebra. That's the injury that paralyzed actor Christopher Reeves."My ears rang like never before; like there was a tuning fork in there," remembers Smets, whose sponsor partners include the Fiddle Back Ranch in Meeteetse, Wyo., Diamond Cut Jeans and Justin Boots. "The doctors told me I'd never fight bulls again, but all that did was make me mad."
The range of motion in his neck isn't what it was before being snapped twice, but Smets' guts never took a hit.
"I love the adrenaline rush and the challenge of getting in and getting out," said Smets, who four times has been voted to work the PBR Finals, but had to sit it out in '96 after the second broken neck, and has worked seven NFRs. "To be 41 and have all these kids vote and think I'm still supposed to be here means everything to me.
"I feel blessed that God's let me play the game as long as I have, and I don't want to go away yet. Wick Peth is my hero. He was 49 when he worked his last Finals. God willing, I'll get there, too."
Smets is sky high on the PBR. "The PBR is the best thing that's ever happened to the sport," said Smets, who fights bulls in baggies that measure 56 inches around the waist and 20 inches down the inseam. "This sport's blown wide open. There's been some great leadership and some great television coverage, and they've reached out and touched the fans. Bud Light saw it was a great deal from the beginning, and they were right. PBR events are very exciting. It's man against beast, blood and guts. And people like blood and guts.
"When you get on this caliber of bulls week in and week out there will be injuries. The bulls always come to play. There are no days off around here. These bulls are always ready to rock and roll. That's made the cream rise to the top. If you want to be around the best bull riders, you come to the PBR. There are a lot of talented young kids coming out of the woodwork with all this money they're riding at. It's really fun for me, as long as I've been around, to see kids like Ross Coleman coming on. I've known Ross since he was 5 years old."
"The average career of a bullfighter is about like the average career of a bull or bull rider. You just don't see guys go that long. It's so physical that they don't last. They're not supposed to. To be competitive at this level year after year just doesn't happen."
"Smets, who in addition to the title of cowboy lifesaver extraordinaire was at that time busy winning his record five Wrangler Bullfight Tour world titles, awed young bullfighters the way Hedeman left rookie bull riders starstruck.
In his decades of bullfighting, Smets has been a big part of the revolution that's taken place in his craft."What was so wild and wide open has turned into ring savvy," said Smets. "To be a good bullfighter isn't shear wild craziness. It's about being a good anticipator, seeing the wreck before it happens and knowing where the bull rider's going to hit before he gets there. If it comes down to it, I'm going to throw my body in there. If a guy's going to be laying there, I'm going to be laying there with him.
"When I fight bulls best is when the contact starts. That's when I get mad and want to get even. Anybody who's ever seen me fight bulls knows I'm at my best after I get run over. And I get stronger as every bull goes. My timing gets better and sharper with each bull. I'm like the old knockout punch prize fighters. You let me hang around to the late rounds and I get dangerous."
