Imagine you’re standing in the middle of an arena, ready to come face to face with a beast known as a Mexican fighting bull while the crowd screams and goes wild. That insane amount of bravery and courage is what bullfighters like Madill’s very own Dekevis Jordan does on a regular basis.
Jordan is a 22-year-old man who calls Madill, Oklahoma his hometown. He graduated from Madill High School in 2018. While attending MHS, he was known for his athleticism and participated in sports such as track and football. In fact, had you asked many of his fellow classmates at the time one would’ve probably assumed he would go to college to play ball. However, he decided to go a different route and chose the rodeo. A lot of the same conditioning and fancy footwork applies in bullfighting as it does football. You still have an opponent to beat, it just weighs quite a bit more than a linebacker.
Jordan said there is a specific ability that is born in a bull fighter.
“You can’t really develop skills for this sport. It’s either you have it or you don’t,” Jordan said. “I learned to read the cattle in which help me to better understand them. They are just as athletic as a human. I try to mainly stay focused on the fundamentals of the game and then I started adding some swag to it.”
His job consists of two titles, protecting the cowboy and freestyle. When Jordan must put himself in between the bull and the cowboy. His ultimate goal is to keep the bull distracted so the cowboy can make it to safety until the bull exits the arena. This does consist of putting himself in danger and sometimes take what he likes to call a “hookin.”
Now, the second role or title is known as freestyling. This is where he comes face to face with a Mexican bull in the ring, which is bred to fight, and earn style points and doing everything he can not to get hit but to stay as close as possible. He and his bullfighter friends refer to this as “game of inches.”
His normal workday consists of waking up, working out, taking care of any injuries, eating breakfast, ranch hand work, practicing with his fellow travel partners, and finishing every day with watching films. However, he noted that he must always be mentally prepared, as well.
“In this sport, it is a mental game,” he said. “You must be way more prepared than anything. You are constantly taking hits and receiving injuries so if you’re not mentally ready for it, it’s hard to keep going.”
Even though he has traveled and participated in many rodeos and freestyle events, he said he feels his greatest accomplishment is in 2019 when he was invited to compete in the Ardmore, Oklahoma Bullfights and won first place. He said it has meant the most to him because he can remember going and watching the events when he was younger.
When it comes to inspiration, he said he has had three in his lifetime. He was first inspired to become a bullfighter when he was a young kid working in the back pens at the local rodeos. Another inspiration comes from his mentor. Jordan stated that he feels if you want to be the best, you must train with the best – for him that is Cody Webster. Webster is an eighttime NFR and six-time PBR bullfighter.
“He pushes me to my limits, and I feel like you are who you hang around,” he said.
Lastly, Jordan said his greatest inspiration was a close family member.
“My papa is my biggest inspiration,” Jordan said. “He passed away in 2016. However, growing up he always told me if I’m going to do something, to do it one hundred percent. I live by that every day. There have been times in life where I have been told that I can’t do certain things and that drives me to show people I can. I can do whatever I set my mind to, as long as I have faith and the want to.”
Stepping between a bucked bull rider and a fi f t e e n - h u n d r e d - p o u n d b e a s t requires a lot of tenacity which Jordan has. Not to mention a mindset and heart of a lion. He pushes himself to outwork his competition. Choosing to work hard and push himself to be the very best is what sets him apart.
His advice to any young cowboys or cowgirls wanting to follow in his footsteps is to be tough and be prepared.
“You need to be mentally and physically tuff,” he said. “Set your mind and heart to it. It’s really not a game, it’s a lifestyle choice for a lot of cowboys. It’s how we make our living. If you can close your eyes and see your success, go after it. Just remember to have faith and anything is possible.”