Karate Combat 53 took place on February 28th, 2025 and although there wasn’t a full card of grappling matches, the promotion did book a Pit Submission Series featured bout between Caio Borralho and Brendan Allen. There was supposed to be at least one more grappling match on the card as well, but it fell apart on just a few days’ notice. Bryce Mitchell pulled out of his match with Ilay Barzilay when he was offered an MMA fight in the future, leaving just a single grappling match at the event. Borralho and Allen didn’t disappoint though, as both men left it all in the pit.
There was a little bit of clinchwork before Allen shot in for a single-leg, but Borralho immediately latched on to a guillotine as he went down. It took Allen almost a minute to fight his way free, and Borralho used the space to stand back up as soon as he did. They carried on handfighting on the feet and Allen tried to snap Borralho down into a guillotine more than once, with no success. Both men tried half-hearted shots before Allen really committed to one, but Borralho sprawled hard and started to use the front-headlock to circle to Allen’s back.
Allen turned his back to the mat to stay safe but Borralho took up top position in the scramble. Allen held on to quarter-guard and attempted a sweep, recovering half-guard when Borralho had to re-balance. Borralho sat to face Allen’s leg and freed his leg to step into mount, with Allen’s kipping escape failing him. He did manage to get back to half-guard soon after, but Borralho took a kimura grip and used it to pass to side control. He stepped into mount again and maintained top control when Allen turned to his knees to escape, but the first round ended a second or two later.
Caio Borralho was more aggressive than Brendan Allen from the start of the second round and he pressured him into the pit wall, using it to score a quick double-leg. He passed to side control soon after but couldn’t do much from there before Allen worked his way back to half-guard. Allen got an underhook eventually and tried to wrestle up, but Borralho stepped over his legs and dropped into mount. Allen worked quickly and created space to get back to open guard, as Borralho was standing above him. Borralho hit a very quick knee-slice pass but Allen turtled, forcing him to circle around and switch to a smash pass instead.
Allen turtled again and Borralho sunk one hook in to start taking his back, but Allen was able to stay safe and eventually shake him off. Borralho stood up and Allen dived in for a takedown quickly, pressing him up against the pit wall and dragging him to the mat. Borralho was in closed guard at first but Allen stepped in to half-guard when he opened his legs, keeping him trapped in the corner. Borralho eventually worked his way out of the corner and when Allen tried to pass, he hit a quick sweep to take up top position.
Allen tried to invert to attack off his back but Borralho read it well and almost exposed his back, but Allen turned to get it to the mat. Borralho stayed relaxed and almost settled in to side control, but Allen turned to turtle once again to prevent that. Borralho got one hook in and even had chest-to-back connection this time, but Allen turned his back to the mat again. Borralho dropped into mount in the scramble but couldn’t hold Allen down, and the second round ended there. With a clear positional advantage in each round, Borralho was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
The full Karate Combat 53 event replay, including the Pit Submission Series featured match between Caio Borralho and Brendan Allen, was uploaded to the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
