Bjorn Rebney: No judging issues with Bellator 120 pay-per-view headliners

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said he agreed with the scoring in the headliner of Saturday’s Bellator 120.

“I scored it the way the judges scored it,” Rebney said at the pay-per-view event’s press conference.

The decision ruled Quinton Jackson the winner over Muhammed Lawal via a unanimous decision of 29-28 scores.

“I thought [Lawal] convincingly won the first and ‘Rampage’ convincingly won the second, and I thought, look, you had to watch the third real close,” Rebney said at the post-event news conference at Landers Center in Southaven, Miss. “There were some takedowns. It’s a tough one to call, but I scored it the way the judges scored it.”

While immediate online reaction to the decision was overwhelmingly negative toward call and the Mississippi athletic commission that oversaw the event, Rebney also saw no issue with a co-headliner between ex-lightweight champ Michael Chandler and Will Brooks, who filled in for champ Eddie Alvarez on short-notice.

Brooks won the interim lightweight title by convincing two of three judges he beat Chandler. The final scores were 47-48, 446 and 48-47 in his favor.

Rebney cautioned that he wasn’t completely certain about either decision, but felt upon his initial viewing that Chandler vs. Brooks and Jackson vs. Lawal were scored correctly.

“I thought the co-main event decision was good as well,” he told MMAjunkie. “Mike came out of the gates with all kinds of power and looked spectacular in one and two and Will evened the playing field in three, four and five.

“One of the good things about having controversy in scoring is that you have very close fights, and I think that’s what these guys gave us. They gave us amazing fights, so that’s an advantage.

“I’ve got to look again at the tape. Sometimes, I get rolling too much with the microphone in front of me, but from what I saw, and I went back to the truck watching it, I think both decisions were good decisions. But they were wickedly close fights, and that’s what world-class fighters will give you.”

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