On the final out of the game, Winckler conquered Lights Out for a career-best 90.45 points, delivering the first walk-off ride of his career and lifting the Freedom to a 179.4-89.15 victory over the Outlaws.

One ride carrying so many milestones.

It was Winckler’s first qualified ride for Florida, his first 90-point ride in PBR Teams competition, only the second 90-point effort of his professional career and the highest score he had ever recorded.

“I didn’t know it was going to be almost 90 and a half,” Winckler said. “I just knew it felt good.”

The moment completed a remarkable turnaround for a rider who had not even been included in Florida’s starting lineup.

Winckler had been dealing with what he believed was a lingering groin injury, an issue that had limited him to only four bulls during the previous seven months. He had not attempted a bull since the season-opening event in Fort Collins, and he had not been getting on practice bulls ahead of Wildcatter Days.

On Friday, Winckler visited sports medicine to meet with Dr. Tandy Freeman, bringing his MRIs and undergoing additional treatment. After leaving sports medicine following the review, however, Winckler still was not entirely sure whether he had officially been cleared.

Florida Head Coach Paulo Crimber went inside to speak directly with the medical staff.

The news was better than Winckler expected.

His groin had healed. The pain he had continued to feel was instead being referred from his hip, where he had a slight tear in his left labrum.

Once the medical team worked on his hip and explained the diagnosis, Winckler was cleared to compete.

“I was relieved,” Winckler said. “That makes me happy. I feel good now that they said I’m good. My groin is healed.”

The clearance did not automatically place him in the lineup.

Winckler had already told Crimber earlier in the week that, even if he was cleared, the coach should not feel obligated to start him ahead of another rider. He had not been on practice bulls and did not want to risk letting his new team down.

Crimber immediately called him.

“He told me not to put him over anybody else on the team,” Crimber said. “I told him, ‘Listen, you never say that again, because you’re no less than anybody on the team. Everybody has the same talent. You guys are a team for a reason. I picked you for a reason because I trust you and I believe in you. You can be great, and you are. You’ve got to believe it.’”

The message hit Winckler hard.

“Paulo was like, ‘Ethan, don’t ever talk to me like that on the phone again,’” Winckler recalled. “‘You’re the baddest. I picked you for this team because you’re good and you’re great. From now on, believe you’re the best, because you are the best.’

“I was like, ‘Damn.’ All of that fired me up.”

Less than four hours after Florida’s walkouts, the Freedom needed him to prove it.

Florida opened the game with an 88.95-point ride from Alex Cerqueira aboard Show Me The Money in the second frame, but the Freedom were unable to add another score during the remainder of the regulation lineup.

Kansas City remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Eric Henrique Domingos received a re-ride opportunity and conquered Milestone for 89.15 points. The score moved the Outlaws ahead and placed Florida on the verge of its second loss of the season.

A re-ride opportunity gave the Freedom one final chance.

Winckler had been watching the game from behind the chutes, knowing that the original matchup had a strong possibility of producing a re-ride. When the flag came, he immediately began asking which bull it was.

The answer was Lights Out.

“I looked at Paulo and said, ‘I’m want him bad,’” Winckler said.

Crimber briefly checked that his rider was certain. Winckler had not ridden since Fort Collins, and his first attempt there after returning from injury had lasted only about a second.

This time, there was no hesitation.

“I was like, ‘I’m ready,’” Winckler said. “They cleared me just earlier, so I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Lights Out was not an unfamiliar opponent.

Winckler had attempted the bull during the previous PBR Teams season and was bucked off at approximately seven seconds. Winckler believed then that it was a bull he should have ridden. He remembered how good the matchup had felt and understood the opportunity in front of him.

“He bucked me off in seven seconds, and I should have never bucked off of him,” Winckler said. “I just knew he felt good.”

Crimber did not choose Winckler because of the previous matchup. He selected him because he believed Winckler was the best available rider for that bull at that moment.

“He can ride good both ways,” Crimber said. “I saw him riding in some rodeos this year, early in the summer after the Finals, and I saw him doing exactly what he did today.”

“As long as I show them I trust them, they’ll trust themselves, too. I don’t know why they don’t trust themselves, because they’re a bunch of badasses, but sometimes it takes that reassurance. I’ve been there before.”

Lights Out had established himself as one of the sport’s most dependable money bulls, helping riders win more than five events in 2026 and not recording a bull score below 43 points in more than a year.

Behind the chutes, Winckler continued preparing the bull rope covered in Richardson’s rosin and tried not to let the magnitude of the moment take over.

Crimber’s instructions remained simple.

Breathe.

“Paulo just kept telling me, ‘Breathe. Just breathe. We’re good. It’s easy,’” Winckler said.

Winckler had struggled at times with leaning too far over his bull rope while preparing to nod, attempting to create too much movement before the gate opened. On Friday, he concentrated on staying upright, breathing and allowing the ride to happen.

Florida star John Crimber was dealing with significant pain behind the chutes after aggravating a lingering pelvis injury earlier in the game. Even while grimacing, he lifted his head to watch his friend and teammate climb aboard.

Winckler and Crimber’s connection predated their time together with Florida. Winckler had long been close with the Freedom cornerstone, even sharing a hotel room with him during the previous PBR Teams season while Winckler rode for the Carolina Cowboys.

Now they wore the same red, white and blue jersey.

Winckler settled into the chute. Paulo Crimber leaned close and whispered one more reminder into his ear.

Then Winckler nodded.

“I said, ‘Buck him,’ and it just clicked,” Winckler said. “After the first round, when I got back down, I knew in my head. I was like, ‘Oh, here we go.’”

Lights Out initially turned to the left, the direction that placed less strain on Winckler’s injured hip. The bull eventually reversed back to the right, forcing Winckler to handle the direction that had caused him the most pain.

He stayed connected through both turns.

When the whistle sounded, seven months of pain, uncertainty and waiting poured out at once.

Winckler threw his helmet in celebration before jumping onto the chutes as his Florida teammates erupted around him.

Kansas City immediately challenged the ride for a possible slap.

Winckler’s celebration briefly gave way to another wait. He climbed back onto the chutes as officials reviewed whether his free hand had made illegal contact with the bull.

Paulo Crimber remained beside him and greeted his rider with a simple, emphatic message.

“Great job!”

Winckler knew his hand had come back near Lights Out, but he believed the bull’s tail had wrapped around it rather than his hand illegally slapping the animal.

The officials agreed.

Kansas City lost the challenge, and the ride stood.

Then 90.45 points illuminated the scoreboard.

The score delivered Florida’s victory and officially gave Winckler the first walk-off ride of his career, his first qualified ride for the Freedom, his first PBR Teams 90 and the highest score of his professional career.

“It felt great,” Winckler said afterward on the television broadcast while thanking God. “I had to wait seven months for this.”

That wait included only four bull attempts, recurring pain and the uncertainty of whether he would be physically ready when his new team finally needed him.

Friday’s ride was the first time during his comeback that he did not feel the injury while competing.

“It was so relieving because it was the first time it hadn’t hurt on a bull,” Winckler said.

The score surpassed Winckler’s previous career high of 90 points, recorded aboard Cowboy Channel Bar’s Magic Hunter during Round 2 of the 2025 PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational on March 29, 2025.

Until Friday night in Oklahoma City, that remained the only 90-point ride of his professional career.

For a rider nicknamed “Wink” — or “Baby Gorilla” by his closest friends — the performance added another milestone to a career that began drawing attention long before he reached the professional ranks.

The Winnie, Texas, native was crowned the Miniature Bull Riders Junior World Champion at 12 years old. His parents described him as the type of wild child who could only be compared to J.B. Mauney’s son, Jagger.

When Winckler turned 18, he immediately entered the professional ranks. The Carolina Cowboys selected him in the first round of the 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft, and he later delivered an 88.5-point ride aboard Mr. Wilson in Brooklyn before helping Carolina reach the 2025 PBR Teams Championship at T-Mobile Arena, where he became a Team League World Champion.

Florida acquired Winckler during the offseason as part of a roster overhaul that also brought Richardson to the Freedom from the Nashville Stampede.

Although both riders were new to Florida, neither entered the locker room without existing connections. Winckler had grown up around several members of the team, including John Crimber and Richardson, while reserve rider Caynyon Jolly also fit naturally into the group.

“The Brazilians accepted them so great,” Paulo Crimber said. “The energy is so good. I’m so happy with the team we have right now. I just told them to go out there and have fun, and that’s what they did.”

Richardson’s contribution to Winckler’s first Florida ride was not a score but the rosin that helped make it possible.

Winckler plans to use it again.

“I’m using it tomorrow,” he said with a chuckle.

On Saturday’s second night of Wildcatter Days, Winckler is scheduled to enter Florida’s lineup against Smooth Whiskey with the opportunity to build on the most important ride of his career.

This time, he will not be waiting behind the chutes as Florida’s “pull in case of emergency” re-ride option.

He will walk into the arena as the rider who delivered when Florida needed one more score, aboard the most proven money bull of the season, with his coach’s words still ringing in his ears.

“I told you you’re the best,” Paulo Crimber told him after the ride. “I told you that you need to believe in yourself. I believe it, and that means you should believe it.”

Winckler found that belief.

And when Florida needed him to be the best, he was.

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media