Charges against Ferrari
Ferrari joined Oklahoma State Wrestling in 2021, ranked as the No. 1 overall wrestler in his class. He became the third wrestler in OSU history to win a NCAA title as a true freshman.
A serious car crash in January 2022 left both Ferrari — the driver — and the passenger injured. A month after the accident, the head coach for the Cowboys wrestling announced that Ferrari would not be able to return for the fall season.
In mid-July 2022, Stillwater Police announced that Ferrari was under investigation for sexual assault. He was released that month from the university’s wrestling team, though the university gave no reason for his dismissal. The Oklahoma State wrestling team declined to comment on this story.
The arrest warrant from August 2022 states that charges were brought against Ferrari for sexual battery, a felony and a level 3 offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
According to the signed affidavit obtained by The Daily Tar Heel, the accusing party said Ferrari forcibly performed non-consensual sexual acts on her, stating he told her that he “liked how she put up a good fight” when it was over. The arrest warrant describes the accusations as removing the complainants' clothes, pinning her down, and ejaculating "while straddling her body."
Throughout the case, Ferrari maintained his innocence, and his lawyer Derek Chance said the charges were false at various points.
A year later, in October 2023, the District Attorney for Payne County filed a motion to dismiss the charge, at the request of the accusing party.
“The young woman who is at the center of this matter has endured in the last year vicious attacks on multiple forms of social media, continuing trauma, blame, harassment, ostracism and indirect threats to her career: a career that has just begun,” reads the motion to dismiss.
Soltys said the woman who made the accusation was essentially bullied out of pursuing the charges.
"I'm not alleging that it was AJ Ferrari directly, but it was AJ Ferrari's camp," she said. "It was the people in his corner, it was his supporters that viciously went after this woman."
Pyles said any team considering recruiting Ferrari would have to consider the charges.
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"I feel like an institution with the prestige of UNC, just athletically and in general, probably has a pretty good understanding and standards," he said. "So I feel like if it passes their standards it's probably on par. But then again, I'm just a media personality."
Pyles said that since the charges against him were dropped, conversation around Ferrari shifted to focus on his other controversies, including his behavior at the December 2023 tournament that got him disqualified.
After defeating his opponent in the finale for his weight class, Ferrari got into a physical altercation with the other athlete and then gave the crowd the middle finger when they began to boo.
"To this day it's one of the craziest things that I've seen in the sport in my life," Pyles said. "That was really a rock bottom moment for AJ, where many people wrote him off entirely."
A year later, in October 2024, Ferrari committed to Cal State Bakersfield. He placed third in the 2025 NCAA championship and was again named an All-American in 2025. With the news of the charges being dropped widely reported, he consistently brought in high viewership, with CSUB wrestling reporting his presence brought 20 million viewers to the team’s page in one season.
After announcing he was entering the transfer portal in March, Ferrari declared he'd be transferring to UNC on April 7 on a live FloWrestling podcast.
Pyles said Ferrari's past is important to consider, but that he's shown tremendous "emotional growth" in the past year.
"I think there's a risk," said Pyles. "Is it what it was a year ago? You'd have to say no. But if there's skepticism, I'm with them."
Soltys said she thinks bringing on Ferrari will impact the wrestling team culture and reputation.
“What is the message that Tony Ramos and Rob Koll are sending to the wrestlers that are already here?” she asked.
Ferrari did not respond to numerous requests for comment through email and social media.
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Aisha BaiocchiAisha Baiocchi is the 2024-25 special projects editor. She previously served as the 2023-24 enterprise managing editor and a senior writer on the University desk.
