"He was so dead tired"- Dean Peterson makes feelings known after beating defending champion Richard Figueroa at the NCAA Wrestling Championships

Dean Peterson pulled off an incredible upset on Thursday night (March 20) at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Rutgers wrestler outdid defending champion Richard Figueroa after a closely contested battle and opened up about his victory after the match.

Peterson entered the national championships as the 12th seed in the 125 pounds category, and began his campaign on a high note, taking down Oklahoma’s Antonio Lorenzo in his first round. He then squared off against Figueroa to see who would take it to the quarterfinals. While Figueroa began the match with the upper hand, leading his opponent 3-0 after the first period, Peterson soon staged a comeback, clawing his way back to 4-4 before landing the pinfall for the win.

Reflecting on his victory, Dena Peterson told media that he had been looking forward to this particular match given that he and Figueroa share many of the same strengths, saying:

“I was looking forward to that match, just because I know me and him have similar styles. We're both fast, we're both quick, we're both slick. I knew it was going to be a barn burner, I knew there was going to be scrambles, but I was confident in my offense and confident in my scrambles. I kept the pace on them, got him tired, he was so dead tired there was no way he was getting out of that cradle.”

Right before Dean Peterson successfully pinned Figueroa, he put himself in a scary position, taking a weak shot that nearly handed his rival the win. However, the Rutgers wrestler quickly recovered from his bad shot. Reflecting on this moment after the match, Peterson said:

“They (his coaches) have kind of been telling me all week ‘just wrestle through the positions’, because if I just wrestle through and I get to the positions that I want to get to, I'm going to score points. So even off of that bad shot, I kept moving, he (Figueroa) didn't keep moving, (and) I got the reversal and then locked up a cradle.”

Dean Peterson set to take on Vincent Robinson next

Peterson in action for Rutgers (Image Source: Getty)

After his impressive victory over defending national champion Richard Figueroa, Dean Peterson now heads to the quarterfinals of the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, where he will battle Vincent Robinson.

Robinson, who competes for North Carolina State, survived a scare in his round of 16 match. The fourth seed was down 4-0 in the third period against Princeton’s Marc-Anthony McGowan before she wrestled his way back to the win.

The two wrestlers previously met in 2021, when Robinson defeated Dean Peterson. They will meet again on Friday, March 21, for their quarterfinal match at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships.