Luis Gustavo captured the RIZIN lightweight championship by defeating Ilhom Nazimov via first-round knockout at RIZIN 53. The victory marks a significant milestone for Gustavo as he claims gold in one of Asia's premier MMA promotions. The event featured multiple finishes, including Ryan Cafaro submitting Koyomi Matsushima with a guillotine in the third round, and Ryo Takagi scoring a first-round knockout over Kaiven Lee. The main event between Ren Hiramoto and Koji Tanaka ended in a draw under special stand-up rules with no weight limit. Several other fighters secured submission victories throughout the card.
