The event served as Bellator MMA's inaugural pay-per-view event. Bellator 120 was expected to be headlined by Eddie Alvarez defending his Bellator Lightweight Championship against the former champion Michael Chandler in a trilogy fight. However, a week before the fight, it was announced that Alvarez had suffered a concussion and was forced to pull out of the fight. Chandler instead faced Will Brooks for the Interim Lightweight title. Tito Ortiz made his Bellator MMA debut at this event against Bellator Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko in a Light Heavyweight bout. The Season 10 Lightweight tournament final between Patricky Freire and Marcin Held was originally scheduled to take place on the Spike TV portion of this event. However, Freire was injured and the bout was pushed back to another card.
