Bellator 120 results recap: Biggest Winners, Losers from Mississippi

Don't lie ... last night (May 17, 2014) was kind of fun.

Bellator 120: "Rampage vs. King Mo" was the first pay-per-view (PPV) event in the promotion's history, complete with entertaining fights, shocking upsets and odd judging decisions.

Quinton Jackson became Bellator's Season 10 light heavyweight tournament winner after defeating arch rival Muhammed Lawal in the main event. It looked as if "Mo's" takedowns were going to prove the difference; however, the judges thought "Rampage" did enough with his striking to seal the deal (watch full main event highlights here).

The former Bellator 205-pound title challenger was not happy and called out his own boss Bjorn Rebney in his post-fight interview.

In other PPV action, Will Brooks captured the interim lightweight championship in the co-main event, defeating Michael Chandler via split decision. "Ill Will" and Chandler engaged in a war, which could be a potential "Fight of the Year" candidate, with Brooks coming on strong during the latter half of the fight.

However, it looked as if Chandler took the fifth round when the fight was dead even. After almost finishing "Ill Will" in the last minute of the fight, the judges saw it differently and awarded Brooks the victory.

Tito Ortiz shocked the masses by submitting Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko in the first round, tapping the Russian via arm triangle choke. The mixed martial arts (MMA) pioneer scored his first victory for the promotion in a jaw-dropping performance and gave a ridiculous post-fight interview only he's capable of doing.

Other main card winners include Alexander Volkov and Michael Page.

With that said, it's time to name the biggest winner and biggest loser (and their runner ups) from the event in Mississippi, and the selections certainly aren't easy ones.

Biggest Winner -- Tito Ortiz

How can he not be?!?!?

Ortiz had his back against the wall in this fight and in all honesty, he was supposed to get crushed by Shlemenko. After opting to stand against "Storm," Ortiz made the smart decision to take him down and found an opening for an arm triangle choke.

It was lights out for the Russian within seconds.

"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," or "The People's Champion," won just his second fight in seven years, but it was eerily similar to his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132. He defied the odds, excelled as an underdog and submitted both opponents when nobody gave him a chance on either occasion.

With three fights left on his Bellator contract, the ball is in his court. He can either enter a light heavyweight tournament or take superfights.

Indeed, the 39-year-old combatant is seemingly here to stay (for now) and it's simply agonizing astonishing.

Runner Up -- Will Brooks

Regardless of how you scored the fight, Brooks is the new interim Bellator lightweight champion defeating one of the promotion's biggest stars.

"Ill Will" wasn't doing well in the first two rounds, but he came out like a bat out of hell in the third, almost finishing the former Bellator lightweight champion.

Showing great adversity by keeping up against Chandler and turning the tide on several occasions, nobody gave the Illinois native a shot at beating his foe. He was expected to lose by taking this fight on one week's notice, and despite the fifth round being the root of the controversy, he had never been in the championship rounds.

So much for Chandler vs. Alvarez 3, but Brooks probably doesn't care too much about the spoiled plans since he's about to face the true titleholder.

Biggest Loser -- Blagoi Ivanov

Talk about a guy who really crapped the bed.

Ivanov had the grappling, takedown and submission advantage ahead of his fight against Volkov on the main card. After smothering his opponent in the first round with some exhaustive clinch battles, the Bulgarian somehow messed up a takedown and ended up on his back, choked out by a guy who only had one submission win out of 22 on his record.

Marketed as the guy who beat Fedor Emelianenko in Sambo combat, you have to praise Ivanov for coming back from the horrendous stabbing incident in 2012, but he lost his chance at a heavyweight title shot by getting submitted by an amateur on the ground.

Not only does he spoil his perfect record of 11 wins, he gifts "Drago" a rematch against Vitaly Minakov in a fight where the Bulgarian would have probably fared better against the heavyweight champion.

The Sambo champion is now back to square one.

Runner Up -- Michael Chandler

Every time I write this column, there's a pesky commenter down below who labels either the promotion or the fans as the biggest loser when something goes wrong.

For the first time ever, I can strongly agree with those assessments and I'm using Michael Chandler as the scapegoat.

Look, it's obvious Chandler could have won the fight against Brooks, but the reality is he didn't quite look like himself during the last couple of rounds and he gave up his back way too often on the mat.

At 0-2 in his last two bouts (both championship affairs), the promotion can kiss the trilogy fight between Chandler vs. Alvarez goodbye. And if it wants to preserve its integrity, the former 155-pound champion will have to climb back up the ranks by entering the lightweight tournament once more.

I'm not saying Chandler's path will never cross with Alvarez's, but had he won, Bellator would have instantly acquired a marquee match for its second PPV offering.

It's a stinger, no matter how you look at it.

That's a wrap.

For extensive event coverage, check out our Bellator 120: "Rampage vs. King Mo" story stream right here.