Bull riders in E Center

The Professional Bull Riders Tour rolls into town tonight featuring 45 top riders who will climb aboard 2,000-pound monster bulls and try to stick there for eight seconds. The battle begins at 8 p.m. tonight and continues Saturday night at the same time at the E Center.

Tony Mendes of Jensen is ranked sixth in the world. Currently hampered by a torn MCL, he will not compete but says another Utahn, Rylan Wright, a 20-year-old from Midway, is an up-and-coming young rider who will be one of the favorites.

"I am ready to go," Wright said.

A former Utah state champion, Wright is not intimated by competing with the world's best. At his young age, he has won a couple of events and has yet to experience a serious injury.

"I broke my jaw a couple of times," he said.

Mendes describes the real heroes of bull riding as the bull fighters who divert the bull's attention once the rider is thrown so he can make it to safety. In rodeos, these specialists might be called clowns, but the PBR-Bullnanza promoters are quick to distinguish themselves from rodeo.

"This is not rodeo," said Chris Christensen, marketing coordinator for Bullnanza.

Said Mendes: "A bull fighter steps in and puts his life on the line."