They did it. It happened. Bellator MMA promoted its first-ever pay-per-view Saturday in Southaven, Mississippi.
How did it go, you ask? That's an interesting question.
Tito Ortiz won a fight and had a very Tito Ortiz-like reaction afterward. He "buried" his first victim in a cage since 2011, and then launched into a long victory speech that hit on all topics: inspiring others, following dreams, surgeries, world titles.
Ortiz's moment came at the expense of middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko, who wore the look of a frightened, lost child when the much bigger Ortiz took him down.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is confident the loss won't affect Shlemenko's stock too much, because, as we all saw, he was taking on a freak show of a challenge fighting Ortiz at 205 pounds. That seems like an optimistic take. Shlemenko's stock will take a hit.
A virtually unknown Will Brooks earned an incredible (although controversial) decision over Michael Chandler to win the promotion's interim lightweight title.
The loss stings a bit in that it (one would think) eliminates the possibility of a trilogy fight between Chandler and current lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez -- but on the plus side, Bellator saw a potential new star emerge in Brooks.
According to Rebney, however, Alvarez actually has a contractual right to demand Chandler as his next opponent. In that scenario, Chandler would vie for the lightweight title on a 0-2 skid while Brooks, the interim champ and the man who just beat him, would wait his turn. That's literally painful to contemplate.
And in the night's main event, Quinton Jackson defeated Muhammed Lawal in a bit of a lackluster fight, but intriguing nonetheless. Afterward, Lawal spewed forth an obscenity-laced reaction aimed sort of toward Jackson and very much so at Rebney.
Jackson, meanwhile, requested an immediate rematch, which essentially told us how much interest he has in winning the promotion's light heavyweight belt. No decision yet on which fight Jackson will get.
To recap, Bellator 120 was undeniably entertaining. Regardless of your overall thoughts on the event, I'd be willing to bet it held your attention.
At the same time, it sort of felt like we all landed in Las Vegas and jumped on the first party bus that passed. Good times for sure, but who is driving this thing and where is it taking us? It's probably best to just enjoy the ride and not ask.
