2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships: AJ Ferrari names his biggest competition for 197 national title

AJ Ferrari won a Pac-12 Tournament title Thursday with a 2-0 win over 2024 All-American Stephen Little (Arkansas-Little Rock) and re-established himself as an NCAA contender. Ferrari, the 2021 NCAA champion, returned to the mat this year for Cal State Bakersfield after nearly three years away.

But as far as who he thinks can compete with him, the list is very short. Ferrari mentioned Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan as his biggest competition, among others. But there’s no comparison to “Mr. Fast Twitch,” in his mind. He might just prove it again in Philadelphia in two weeks.

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“He’s improved a lot,” Ferrari said of Buchanan, via FloWrestling. “The biggest improvement, hats off to Buchanan, it was a top (and) bottom. He’s improved a lot there … I just personally don’t feel, I mean, these dudes aren’t on my level, flexibility, athleticism wise … Mentally, that’s where these guys lack … You guys were talking about tiers early in the season. My tiers are not always the most technical, the most sound for me, it’s a mental tier. 

“I feel like Jacob Cardenas is honestly just as technical and just as good a wrestler as Stephen Buchanan and me. I just don’t feel like he’s there here. You watch the same thing with Trey Munoz and Stephen Little. They’re almost as good. But then that second, third period, they started to get a little bit off. Conditioning is not just physical, it’s mental.”

Ferrari is 16-0 this season and hasn’t lost since his true freshman season. Buchanan is also unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the country.

“I feel like it’s really just a collision course between me and Buchanan,” Ferrari said. “And I think (Josh) Barr is close. But biggest thing with Barr is, he’s not smart. You watch him wrestle, he goes, goes, goes in certain positions. I feel like he’s not wrestling smart enough. You know what I mean? I just think that he’s out of the game, a little young, but he’s a sleeper. He’s a guy that could break his way through. I’m excited to watch the Big Tens and the Big 12s and see those other guys. 

“(Another) sleeper, my backup at Oklahoma State when I won, Luke Surber. Doesn’t have a whole lot of offense. Likes legs, but he is a scrambler, you know? He can create those types of engagements, you know. But again, he’s another guy where like, he’s a goer.” 

As Ferrari weighs the mental side of things, Buchanan is the only one on par. But on paper, as he pointed out, he’s already won gold.

“But these I just feel like the only guy in the weight class that (is) even close to me mentally is Buchanan,” Ferrari said. “And then again, at the end of the day, they’re close, I just feel like none of those guys are winners like me. I have that winning DNA.”