MMA Rules Bout Set For Upcoming NJPW Event

NJPW

An MMA rules bout has been announced for the New Japan Pro-Wrestling The New Beginning In Nagoya show on Sunday (January 22).

At the event, Great-O-Khan will challenge for Shingo Takagi’s KOPW Provisional Title. As usual, fans got the opportunity to vote on the match stipulation.

Great-O-Khan’s proposed stipulation of an MMA rules bout won the poll, with 60.7% of the votes, and Takagi’s proposal of a 30 count fall bout only received 39.3% of votes.

NJPW shared the following statement on the bout:

This past weekend saw Great-O-Khan and Shingo Takagi go to the Twitter polls in order to determine the stipulations for their meeting Sunday in Nagoya.

With Takagi proposing a return of the 30 count fall match he had with Taichi last spring, and O-Khan requesting a mixed martial arts rules match, 29,617 votes were cast worldwide with the following results:

Shingo Takagi: 11,625 (39.3%)

Great-O-Khan: 17,992 (60.7%)

O-Khan has won the poll, and Sunday the KOPW 2023 will be contested under mixed martial arts rules with gi! Additionally, per Takagi’s own suggestion, O-Khan’s victory in the vote means that Shingo’s number one contendership status to the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line as well as the KOPW belt Sunday! 

Takagi is currently the #1 contender to Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, after confronting Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

The full results from Wrestle Kingdom 17 can be found right here.

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• Great-O-Khan
• Shingo Takagi
• MMA
• NJPW

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