“And you think acting is hard?” Stallone said in astonishment after taking a behind-the-scenes tour earlier in the evening.
The legendary actor is known for his Hollywood action roles, especially as Rocky Balboa.
Stallone then peered down at the bull that reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger and PBR CEO Sean Gleason named in Stallone’s honor this week.
Yo Adrian! was set to square off against Dakota Buttar in Round 2 of Iron Cowboy, presented by Ariat.
Just before Buttar was ready to challenge the bovine athlete, Stallone borrowed the microphone from PBR exclusive entertainer Flint Rasmussen and let out a “Yo Adrian! Go for it!” over the arena loudspeakers.
The line – “Yo Adrian! I did it!” – is one of the most famous sports movie quotes of all time, and Stallone got a raucous ovation from the sellout crowd taking in the first-ever PBR event in downtown Los Angeles.
Stallone first echoed the iconic phrase in Rocky II when Rocky defeats Apollo Creed for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship.
“These’ve got to be the ultimate, seriously,” Stallone told CBS Sports’ Kate Harrison as Buttar prepared to ride. “It’s tough to make peace with this guy (the bull). There’s a little language barrier.”
Stallone also seemed to fire up the somewhat quiet and mellow Buttar.
Buttar, who was competing with pneumonia this weekend, became the first bull rider to ever ride Yo Adrian!, formerly called Max Bet, and picked up 85.5 points to advance to Round 3.
“That’s unbelievable,” Stallone said. “It’s like a movie. He went the whole 8, right? How incredible is that? Wow. Wait until we get Apollo Creed out here.”
Max Bet was 4-0 before being taken down by Buttar.
When Buttar jumped up on the bucking chutes, he was met by a celebratory Stallone.
“I could hear him yelling and that was pretty cool,” Buttar said. “I watched Rocky growing up. Last night I had no idea what (the bull) was until I seen Sean (Gleason) this morning and he was telling me. It’s pretty cool.”
Gleason called Berger with the idea earlier in the week when the PBR learned that Stallone, who wrote and stars in the most recent installment of the Rocky series, Creed II, was looking to come to the PBR Major being held in Los Angeles.
Berger immediately embraced the idea.
The Mandan, North Dakota, stock contractor boxed in high school and fought in Golden Gloves competitions until the end of high school.
The first Rocky (1976) came out when Berger was still in school.
“I graduated (from high school) in 1979, so I watched every Rocky movie ever,” Berger said. “And I boxed Golden Gloves in high school. So it was a huge movie. The first Rocky movie, I probably went to (see) four or five times in the first couple months. So yeah, huge Rocky fan, Rambo fan.”
Berger added that having the opportunity to meet Stallone, pose for photos and shake his hand was a dream come true.
“It was a highlight of almost my bull riding career,” Berger said. “One of my big heroes from when I was a kid. If I die tomorrow, I will be a happy man. I told him I have a young bull at home called Rambo and he got excited.”

By Justin Felisko - PRB.com