"He said some crazy stuff" - AJ Ferrari makes stance crystal clear about controversy with Carter Starocci after 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships

AJ Ferrari clarified his controversy with Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci after winning a bronze medal at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The two wrestlers had challenged each other over the season for a match but competed in different weights at the national championships.

After winning his fourth NCAA title last season, Starocci expressed a desire to move up a few weight classes to 197 pounds—the same category Ferrari competes in. This resulted in fans speculating about a potential match-up between the two that didn't seem to go well with Ferrari.

Starocci responded with a direct challenge for a one-on-one matchup for $300,000 and some terms that read:

"And finally, when I win you must tattoo 'Starocci is my NATTY DADDY' nin bold font on your chest. Or post in your bio for 665 days 'Sorry girls, please forgive me! I have changed 190lbs. You started it, I’ll finish it. Agree to my terms and I’ll smash your face in."

While the match didn't happen, and Carter Starocci changed to 184 lbs, Ferrari has now claimed he just wanted to grow the sport while the Penn State wrestler took it personally.

"Slap on the wrist, not a big deal even though he said some crazy stuff on that social media post. I was promoting a wrestling match..and he took it personal. I'm just trying to promote wrestling," he said about Starocci's challenge.

Ferrari further spoke about his desire to see them grow and be played in 80,000-capacity football stadiums, calling for a stop to controversies.

"I'm being myself, and I'm trying to grow our sport. Do you guys want our sport and continue to grow? If you guys want our sport to grow, we can do it like at 80,000-person football stadiums. That's what I wanna do, but we can't do that if we want to embrace people's personalities and a couple of little controversies."

Ferrari's return to the national championships didn't go well while Starocci went on to write history.

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How did Carter Starocci and AJ Ferrari fare at the NCAA Wrestling Championships 2025?

Carter Starocci at the Division I Championships - Source: Getty

Carter Starocci became the first-ever wrestler in history to win the five NCAA titles when he beat Northern Iowa's Parker Keckeison 4-3 on Saturday in front of US President Donald Trump. Starocci was the only seventh wrestler in history to have won four national titles, and with his latest win at 197 lbs, he has arguably cemented himself as the greatest in history.

Meanwhile, Ferrari lost his semifinal match 3-0 against Stephan Buchanan, ending his 39-match winning streak as well. He, however, came back on Saturday morning through the consolation round.

Ferrari won two matches to set up a clash with No.1 seed Jacob Cardenas, beating him 2-0 for the second NCAA medal of his career. He also earned All-American honors, the first for Cal State Bakersfield since 2014.