SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Tito Ortiz said he has three fights remaining with Bellator Fighting Championships and hopes to retire a light heavyweight champion.

It remains to be seen whether the UFC Hall of Famer and ex-champ has that in him, but he was talking big after submitting middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko (50-8 MMA, 11-2 BMMA) at Saturday’s Bellator 120.

“When I got my neck broken, there were many fans who said I should stop, and I didn’t believe in that,” said Ortiz (17-11-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who was forced to withdraw from a bout with Quinton Jackson at Bellator’s first scheduled pay-per-view when he fractured his neck.

“My whole life growing up, people told me I couldn’t do something,” Ortiz said at the post-event presser at Landers Center in Southaven, Miss. “They told me I was never going to achieve anything in life. I became a world champion after a year-and-a-half in competition. I helped to get the sport where it is today, and I sacrificed my life for it. I’ve had five major surgeries. People tell me I can’t do things and I just prove them wrong.”

Ortiz’s future was a question mark after the injury, which added yet another setback to a laundry list of health issues the ex-champ spoke at length about.

But the 39-year-old fighter wasn’t ready to quit and rehabilitated himself to the point where he was able to bounce back from the neck injury and a reported blown ACL and accept a fight with Shlemenko, who called him out several months ago.

In a surprise upset, Ortiz choked the Russian out in the first round with an arm-triangle and once again proved doubters wrong.

“I know where the odds went,” Bellator CEO Bjorn said. “I watched the odds, and everybody was disproportionately betting on Alexander. It was 4-to-1; it was 5-to-1. And I said to anybody who would listen, there’s a huge question here of strength. Tito Oritz has been in training. He’s had two months of training; it’s been uninterrupted. There’s no back, there’s no neck, there’s no knees. Every great champion has something left in the tank, and it depends on how much he has left and when he can bring it. I knew this was going to be a very tough fight, and it could go any number of directions.”

Ortiz claimed the fight’s direction and ultimate outcome weren’t much of a surprise.

“I just think God put me on this earth as a tool,” Ortiz said. “I’m not really a religious person, but I believe that being a tool, I show people that they can achieve things if you set your mind to things. I’ve done these things.

“And I just look at it, this fight, was already won before Shlemenko even called me out. This was supposed to happen. All this, that I’m living right now, is all pre-played out. I’m just living it the way it should be done. I’m just very thankful. I’m just living the American dream. I had nothing, and now, I pretty much have everything.”

Ortiz thanked his new girlfriend, former UFC ring card girl Amber Nicole Miller, saying “it’s nice to feel loved, and still feel needed” in a not so subtle reference to his fiery breakup with ex-wife Jenna Jameson. The fighter spoke about being a single dad and said he was in heaven after seven years of hell.

“When I go home and I take care of my kids and I train my ass off, I’m a dangerous person, and I’ll kick any one of these light heavyweight’s asses. ‘Rampage,’ that includes you, too.”

Jackson, who outpointed Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the pay-per-view headliner, laughed at Ortiz’s brash declaration and joked with his would-be opponent and former training partner.

“There will be a time for everything,” Oritz said. “‘Rampage’ is an awesome guy, I’m not trying talk smack.”

After his win, Ortiz did have a few harsh words for his former employer, the UFC, whom he accused of erasing him from the promotion’s record books. But rather than focus on his past, he praised the efforts of his new promoter, who is attempting to usurp the industry-leader as it marches into pay-TV after a long life on cable TV.

“Bellator’s here to stay,” Ortiz said. “We’re going to get better and better.”

Now, the Viacom-owned promotion just needs to figure out how to best utilize the former champ. While pay-per-view would seem the best way to monetize a fighter of Ortiz’s stature, Rebney said he would try to sell him on their chief product.

“We’ve got to sit down with Tito now, and I’ve got to figure out how to con him into a tournament, trying to take a run at a world title,” Rebney said.

For complete coverage of Bellator 120, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson contributed to this report in Southaven.