RIZIN 53 took place with Luis Gustavo capturing the lightweight championship by knocking out Ilkhom Nazimov in the first round. In other notable results, Ren Hiramoto and Koji Tanaka fought to a draw in a special rules stand-up only bout with no weight limit. Ryo Takagi scored a first-round knockout victory over Kaiven Li. Shinobu Ota submitted Yuto Hokamura with an arm triangle in round two. The card also featured several submission finishes, including Ryan Cafaro defeating Koyomi Matsushima with a guillotine in round three, Daiki Tsubota submitting Genji Umeno with a triangle in round one, and Ryoma Shishimoto finishing Kenshin Kodama with an armbar in round one. Several other fights went the distance or ended in first-round stoppages.
