Roberto Satoshi De Souza is going to defend his RIZIN FF lightweight title against Luiz Gustavo at RIZIN 48 on September 29th, 2024. This will actually mark the first time that Souza has put his title on the line in over two years, although he has still been actively competing. Souza won the promotion’s inaugural lightweight title back at RIZIN 28 in 2021 and he quickly rattled off his first two title-defenses within a year, moving his professional MMA record to 14-1. Since then Souza has either been having fights with Bellator fighters in cross-promotional events or he has been taking non-title fights at RIZIN FF.
He’s also had some mixed results during that space of time, starting with a decision loss to AJ McKee at the end of 2022. He bounced back with a win over Spike Carlyle in his next fight for RIZIN FF and tried to use that as momentum when he replaced McKee in the Bellator lightweight grand prix on short notice. Souza couldn’t build a winning streak though as he faced top Bellator veteran Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire in the first round and ended up losing by TKO, signalling his exit from the tournament and the end of his opportunity to become a champion in both promotions at once.
Souza wasted no time in getting back in the win column again though, as he finished Keita Nakamura in the first round at RIZIN Landmark 9. This brought Souza’s record to 16-3 and now he’ll be looking to build another winning streak up, but he has a very tough opponent in his way. Luiz Gustavo is a top contender with a 14-2 professional record and he will be riding a four-fight winning streak into his lightweight title-fight with Roberto Satoshi De Souza at RIZIN 48, making him a fitting challenger for the belt and a difficult obstacle to overcome.
RIZIN FF announced that Roberto Satoshi De Souza would defend his lightweight title against Luiz Gustavo at RIZIN 48 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
