Yoshiki Inamura vs. OZAWA For The GHC Heavyweight Title Made Official For Jan. 1st

By: Lewis Carlan

The second defense for the current GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshiki Inamura has been made official.

On Jan. 1st 2026, Inamura will defend his title against former champion OZAWA. The huge bout is set for NOAH “THE NEW YEAR” 2026 at Nippon Budokan.

The match came about at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Cross Over 2025 on Nov. 21st. OZAWA made an appearance during Inamura’s successful title defense against Kaito Kiyomiya.

Following his victory, Inamura was in the process of nominating his next challenger when OZAWA interrupted and injected himself into the title picture. OZAWA entered the ring and thanked Inamura for “choosing” him as his next challenger. Inamura informed OZAWA that he was not going to pick him but agreed to the title defense.

OZAWA who has been recovering from an injury since Sept. 2025 has vowed to be 100% for the Jan. 1st match.

Both OZAWA and Inamura made post-match backstage comments aimed at one another.

From OZAWA:

“I’m OZAWA, personally chosen by Inamura-san as the next challenger. We even toured the U.K. together—he’s my close buddy beyond senpai–kohai. As for this leg, it’s officially set to be fully healed by January 1, 2026, so please don’t worry.”

From Yoshiki Inamura:

“Mr. OZAWA jumped into the ring and took my feelings in his own honest way, so I want to answer that properly. Me and you—we’ll have a pure, strong, NOAH-style fight: hot and cool in equal measure.”

OZAWA won the GHC Heavyweight Championship at NOAH “ THE NEW YEAR” 2025 on Jan 1. 2025 when he defeated Kaito Kiyomiya. He will be hoping that history repeats itself at NOAH “THE NEW YEAR” 2026.

That will prove to be difficult as a re-vitalized Yoshiki Inamura is an irresistible force that has no intention of relinquishing his GHC Heavyweight Championship.