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Bellator 170 will be remembered as the final sendoff for an MMA legend in Tito Ortiz.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy looked like a blast from the past in taking former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen out by rear-naked choke in the first round.

After a lot of hype leading in to the bout, Ortiz followed up on his promise of being motivated to take out Sonnen. He was the aggressor of the action from the outset and landed a takedown less than 30 seconds into the bout, Sonnen countered by latching on to a guillotine choke, but the submission attempt eventually gave way to mount position for the eventual victor.

From there, Sonnen gave up his back, and Ortiz was able to apply enough pressure with a neck crank that he drew the tap. As Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting noted, Ortiz held on to the choke a little long, further exemplifying the emotional nature of this fight for Ortiz:

The fight was a proper sendoff and the UFC Hall of Famer created another memorable moment for the card by allowing his son to be the one to symbolically lay down his gloves at the center of the cage while officially announcing his retirement:

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Josh Gross of Bleacher Report gave Ortiz props for the moment:

Meanwhile Helwani wondered where the organization will go from here. Sonnen was a huge acquisition for the promotion, but losing his first fight under the Bellator banner is less than ideal from a promotional standpoint:

The marquee matchup of Sonnen and Ortiz anchored the event, but the company made sure to put plenty of its own talent on display in the lead-up to the fight. Here's a rundown of all the action that went down before the aging light heavyweights squared off along with a closer look at each main card fight.

Bellator 170 Results

Main Card Results

Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen : Ortiz via sub ( RNC ) 2:03 R1

: Ortiz via sub ( ) 2:03 R1 Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward: Daley via KO 2:27 R1

Ralek Gracie vs. Hisaki Kato : Kato UD 29-28 X2, 30-27

Gracie vs. : 29-28 X2, 30-27 Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez: Sanchez MD 28-28, 28-27 X2

vs. Emmanuel Sanchez: Sanchez MD 28-28, 28-27 X2 Derek Campos vs. Derek Anderson: Campos UD 29-28 X3

Preliminary Results

Chinzo Machida vs. Jamar Ocampo : Machida via TKO 3:48 R3.

vs. Jamar : via TKO 3:48 R3. Jack May vs. Dave Cryer : May via TKO 0:41 R1.

: May via TKO 0:41 R1. Henry Corrales vs. Cody Bollinger : Corrales via KO 4:28 R3.

vs. Cody : via KO 4:28 R3. Kevin Casey vs. Keith Berry: DRAW 29-27 Casey, 28-28 X2.

Guilherme Vasconcelos vs. John Mercurio : Vasconcelos via KO 0:41 R2.

vs. John : via KO 0:41 R2. Gabriel Green vs. Jalin Turner: Turner via KO 0:36 R1.

Turner: Turner via KO 0:36 R1. Christian Gonzalez vs. Daniel Rodriguez: Rodriguez via TKO 3:55 R2.

Alex Soto vs. Demarcus Brown: Soto UD 29-28 X3.

Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward

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After two lackluster fights, the night needed someone to step up and do something memorable. It was Paul "Semtex" Daley who was the hero the Los Angeles crowd deserved and needed.

After an early takedown by Brennan Ward, the Brit worked to his feet and landed a violent spinning back elbow to create some space. Daley then covered that space by lunging across the cage and landing a massive flying knee flush to the face that allowed Daley to score his 29th career knockout in walk-off fashion.

MMA Fighting took to naming the finish an early favorite for knockout of the year:

Daley is now 6-1 in his last seven fights. That should be moving him up the ladder of the Bellator ranks. Helwani had a great suggestion for his next fight as Michael Van Page would certainly be an exciting scrap:

However, Daley had another name in mind in his post-fight interview, via Helwani:

Regardless of the direction that Bellator decides to go, Daley opened the door to continue to be a fighter the organization can push. After his controversial run in the UFC, his knockout power has made him a legitimate fighter the promotion can set up big fights with.

Ralek Gracie vs. Hisaki Kato

There's two fighters feeling each other out. There's a slow fight. There's a boring fight. Then there's a level of inactivity so great that the ref literally has to remind two combatants they should probably do stuff.

The welterweight bout between Ralek Gracie and Hisaki Kato reached that level in Round 2, as referee Jason Herzog had to step in and tell the fighters they both needed to up their activity.

Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com put into writing what everyone was thinking while watching the fight:

The lack of fireworks in the first two rounds was a surprising development given Kato's involvement in the fight. Kato owns two knockout wins over striking specialist Joe Schilling, including one in kickboxing, so it was surprising to see him be so tentative against Gracie.

The irony wasn't lost on Connor Ruebusch of Bloody Elbow:

For Gracie, this was his first trip back to the cage in nearly seven years, and he fought like it. He wasn't really able to get his jiu-jitsu game going until the end of the third round, and by then it was too late.

Kato was able to pull off the decision win, but it certainly wasn't the kind of performance that is going to endear him to fans.

Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez

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Weird.

That was the one word you could use to describe the featherweight bout between Georgi Karakhanyan and Emmanuel Sanchez.

The two fighters started off on an inauspicious note. Neither fighter had much of an upper hand in the first round, as they traded advantageous positions on the ground toward the end of the round.

Then, the second round was marked by illegal strikes. Karakhanyan broke the rhythm of the fight first with an illegal upkick to a downed Sanchez first, but it was Sanchez who lost a point due to a brutal knee to a grounded Karakhanyan.

Karakhanyan would be cleared to continue, but Sanchez went on to win the round.

The third round was then bizarre in the fact that it was mostly spent with Karakhanyan taking Sanchez's back for the vast majority of the frame without doing much damage. In the end, it was a majority-decision win for Sanchez in a fight that really shouldn't see either guy's stock rise too much.

Derek Campos vs. Derek Anderson

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If Bellator's aim was to kick off the TV broadcast on Spike with an action fight, it should be happy with the results that Derek Campos and Derek Anderson produced. The lightweights, who were fighting at a catchweight of 161 pounds, put on a show.

Through three rounds, it was a juxtaposition of striking styles between Anderson's rangy combinations and Campos' powerful punching.

Gross commented on the fight that Anderson showed while Campos ultimately edged him out on his scorecard:

The win shows that Campos needs to be taken seriously as one of the top contenders in Bellator's lightweight division. He now has three wins in a row, with one of those wins coming against explosive striker Melvin Guillard.

With the loss, Anderson moves to 2-2 over his last four fights and will need to pick up a win in his next bout to remain relevant in the division.