You'd be forgiven for forgetting, but Bellator actually had some fights on Saturday night.
Bellator 120 was the first pay-per-view event in the promotion's history, but the whole thing felt like a limp toward the finish, rather than the celebration of a new phase in the life cycle. In other words, the big day arrived despite the circumstances around it, not because of them.
Not up on your Bellator history? Follow me to the blackboard. See, it wanted to make its pay-per-view debut seven months ago with Bellator 106 but slapped the whole thing back down to cable after main-eventer Tito Ortiz pulled out on late notice. It only comes now despite the highly conspicuous absence of the promotion's biggest star, Eddie Alvarez, who pulled out of his main event title fight with Michael Chandler.
When Bellator announced that the pay-per-view, this time, would go on as scheduled, insiders and hardcore fans howled with indignation and, yeah, laughter. The card, went their argument and/or punch line, wasn't strong enough to carry a PPV in the first place. No way was this a viable, big-time card without the promotion's two best fighters to anchor it.
Maybe, maybe not. But put aside the armchair quarterbacking on buy numbers and the future of the company for a moment. Laboring in the long, dark shadow of the UFC, Bellator has always struggled for respect and probably always will. When Saturday night finally rolled around, fighters had their day in court to determine the worth of the event.
What kind of argument did they present? That rubber match between Alvarez and Chandler will have to wait, but in the meantime, Chandler faced a dangerous (if lesser-known) lightweight in Will Brooks for the interim lightweight strap. And in the main event, former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson took on Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. And there were some other interesting (from one point of view or another) fights to be found across the card.
As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from Bellator 120.
