Luis Gustavo captures RIZIN lightweight title with first-round KO at RIZIN 53

Luis Gustavo became the new RIZIN lightweight champion by knocking out Ilkhom Nazimov in the first round at RIZIN 53. The event featured multiple notable finishes including Ryo Takagi's first-round knockout of Kaiwen Li and Shinobu Ota's second-round arm triangle submission of Yuto Hokamura. The main card also saw Kento Oyama defeat Katie Perez by unanimous decision in women's action. Ryan Cafaro submitted Koyomi Matsushima with a guillotine choke in the third round. The Ren Hiramoto versus Koji Tanaka special standing-only rules bout ended in a draw. Multiple other fights ended in submission victories including triangles, rear-naked chokes, and armbars across the card.