Bellator 120 took place on Saturday night from the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson won the season ten light heavyweight tournament with a decision victory over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
Lawal would get the fight to the ground in the opening moments due to the aggression of Jackson. He would be able to take the opening round by limiting the offense of Jackson. The fight would turn in the favor of Jackson in the second round as he would keep the fight in a standing position.
The third round would be the round that would decide the fight as Lawal looked to take the fight to the ground. He would get the fight to the ground but Rampage would work his way to his feet. He would not be able to land a significant strike in the round that could potentially end the fight and the fight would be decided by the scorecards.
Jackson (35-11) would win the fight on all three judges scorecards and immediately called for a rematch with Lawal. In response, Lawal did not have anything nice to say about Bellator MMA Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Brooks upsets Chandler by split decision to win interim title
The co-main event of the fight card was an interim lightweight title fight as Will Brooks upset former champion Michael Chandler by split decision to win the interim title.
The opening two rounds would go in the favor of Chandler as he was able to used his takedowns and ground strikes to take the rounds. The fight would change in the third round as Brooks had a huge round, which one of the judges scored it 10-8 for him.
There will several moments in the third round where it appeared that Brooks could be moments away from getting a stoppage victory. However, Chandler would survive and make it to the fourth round. Brooks would continue to control the fight in the fourth round and the fight was tied heading into the final round.
After Brooks took control in the opening round, Chandler would rock Brooks with a punch and went for an arm triangle choke submission. Brooks would defend the submission and make it to the final bell. Two of the three judges would score the final round for Brooks, which won him the fight.
Brooks (14-1) will now face lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in a title unification bout at some point and the future is unknown for Chandler.
Ortiz snaps three fight losing streak and submits Shlemenko
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz came out of retirement and defeated Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko by arm triangle choke submission.
Shlemenko would be able to keep the fight on the feet for the first 90 seconds, but Ortiz would get the fight to the ground and immediately looked for the arm triangle choke submission. Shlemenko would not be able to defend the choke and would not tap out to the submission.
Referee John McCarthy came in to stop the fight and Ortiz (17-11-1) now has four career submission victories. The defeat for Shlemenko snaps an eight fight winning streak in Bellator and his last defeat prior to tonight came against Hector Lombard in 2010.
Volkov secures rematch with Vitaly Minakov
Former heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov secured his rematch with champion Vitaly Minakov as he submitted Blagoi Ivanov in the second round.
In the opening round, Ivanov was able to close the distance but could not get the fight to the mat. Volkov would out land him in the round and stay away from the submissions of Ivanov.
During the second round, the fighters would go through a scramble and Volkov would end up getting on the back of Ivanov. After throwing a couple of strikes, Volkov went for the rear-naked choke and Ivanov would tap out to the hold.
Volkov (21-4) is now tied for the second most wins in Bellator heavyweight division history and he will have his rematch with Minakov later this year.
Page remains undefeated with another knockout victory
The opening fight of the main card on pay-per-view, Michael Page remained undefeated as he defeated Ricky Rainey by knockout.
Nearly all of the fight would be on the feet with Rainey only landing four strikes and Page landing 26. Throughout the fight, Page was show boating and a portion of the audience at the Landers Center did not like how he was fighting.
Page (6-0) would end up getting the victory in the final minute of the opening round as he dropped Rainey with a right hand. The referee would immediately come in to stop the fight at the 4:29 mark of the round.
All of Page’s wins have come in the first round and this is his fourth career win by TKO/KO. Rainey (8-3) has now dropped two of his last three fights and this is his second career lost by TKO/KO.
The complete Bellator 120 results are below.
Main Card: (PPV)
Quinton Jackson def. Muhammed Lawal via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Will Brooks def. Michael Chandler via split decision (48-46, 47-48, 48-47)
Tito Ortiz def. Alexander Shlemenko via submission (arm triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:27
Alexander Volkov def. Blagoi Ivanov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:08
Michael Page def. Ricky Rainey via KO (punch) – Round 1, 4:29
Preliminary Card: (Spike TV)
Cheick Kongo def. Eric Smith via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:35
Marcin Held def. Nate Jolly via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:20
Fabricio Guerreiro def. Shahbulat Shamhalaev via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:29
Goiti Yamauchi def. Mike Richman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Austin Lyons def. Zach Underwood via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Mike Wessel def. Justin Frazier via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:28
Ben Brewer def. Andy Uhrich via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:40
Codie Shuffield def. Anthony Lemon via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:15
Brian Hall def. Cortez Phelia via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, :24