Spanish matador Morante de la Puebla cut two ears from the fourth bull of the afternoon and left through the main gate of the Albacete bullring, in a sold-out corrida billed as "no hay billetes" that also saw Paco Ureña and Borja Jiménez each awarded an ear.
The bullfight, featuring animals from the Domingo Hernández ranch, began at 18:12 before a full house. The overall standard of the bulls was described as uneven, with some showing little charge and fading quickly while others offered more sustained possibilities for the three matadors.
Morante's two-ear triumph
Morante struggled with his first bull, an animal with little drive that kept cutting short its charges. He worked it on both horns without holding back, pulling isolated moments of quality from limited material.
His best work came with the fourth bull, which stood still early on, never fully committed to the cape and did little when it reached the horse. Morante kept it covered and waited for an opening, which came in a series of passes with the muleta held low and to the side, in which he did almost everything himself. He followed with more passes on both horns before killing with a sword thrust that was backward but straight, dropping the bull and earning two ears.
Local bullfighting followers Juan Copete, father and son, summed up the performance by saying Morante had made bread without flour, meaning he had produced something exceptional from very little raw material. Morante was carried out of the ring through the main gate in recognition of the performance.
Ureña's bulls
Paco Ureña's second bull moved without direction and offered few openings, but he measured it carefully, fighting with intelligence and playing with distance and height. He landed a low pass to the right with good transmission and followed with passes to the left in his own personal style, holding firm despite the bull's hesitation. The performance lost some sharpness as the animal faded, though Ureña never lost his resolve. Two sword pricks and a backward, crossed sword thrust left the display without the reward it deserved, and the ovation fell short of a trophy.
His fifth bull moved erratically with the cape at first before offering chances on both horns. Ureña set up with real command, fighting long and slow, winning the exchanges to the right on points and later landing two deep left-handed passes among other moments of real depth. He returned to the right and finished close to the bull, pushing on until he had given everything. The performance was judged worthy of two ears, but a very low sword thrust meant only one was awarded.
Borja Jiménez's afternoon
Borja Jiménez received his first bull of the day, the third of the corrida, kneeling at the gate as it emerged and narrowly avoided being caught on two occasions. The bull collapsed too soon in the fight. Borja began his work on his knees, and after the bull lost its footing on some low passes and briefly seemed to offer more at mid-height, it faded quickly and began twisting sharply on both horns. He kept trying without success in turning it into a prize-worthy display, and no trophy was awarded.
He fared better with the sixth bull, receiving it with an applauded cape display that included two changed long passes and slow-paced veronicas. The animal underperformed at the horse and almost caught Borja during a defensive move with the cape. He dedicated the bull to the crowd, began the faena on his knees and moved into linked series as the bull, having offered more early on, gradually faded to a small patch of the ring. He killed in the centre of the ring with a sword thrust that was angled and crossed, and was awarded one ear after a warning had been issued by the president.
The president's rulings
President Genoveva Armero also drew attention from the presidential box. She turned down a closely contested request from the crowd for an ear to be awarded for Borja Jiménez's work with the third bull, a decision that favoured strict judging criteria over crowd sentiment.
She later granted Ureña a single ear for his work with the fifth bull, ruling that a faena worthy of two ears could still be reduced by a poorly placed sword thrust. The two outcomes were treated as consistent rather than contradictory, reflecting an approach in which ears are meant to signify genuinely exceptional performances rather than being handed out routinely.
