Flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson had his belt on the line at UFC 174 Vancouver Saturday night. How would the champion fare? How would the return of Andrei Arlovski play out, and which Rory MacDonald would show up? The card opened with a bout between Canadian robot-dancer and fastest knockout in UFC history holder Ryan Jimmo going up against surging Ovince St. Preux, who scored a win with a Von Flue choke in his last fight. Holder of a calf slicer submission earlier in his career, St. Pruex's submission arsenal is impressive, though he hasn't actually finished with many. That seems as if it's going to change. This bout was tough to watch due to the finish - as Ovince, who has really come on of late, worked on a kimura in the second round, Jimmo called out that his arm was broken, and the fight was stopped. The fact that Jimmo called out that his arm was broken, instead of verbally tapping, seemed to lead to some confusion in the ring and with the announce team, but the end result was the same. The second fight on the card was a clash of heavyweights who have supposedly reinvented themselves. In his return to the UFC, Andrei Arlovski stole a split decision over Brendan Schaub in a fight that saw some questionable judging at play, though not nearly as questionable as last week's Sanchez debacle. Arlovski looked tenative in his return, perhaps being a bit nervous and wanting to secure a win in his first fight back in years. The fighter, who has reinvented himself under the tutilage of Greg Jackson, seemed to be playing a dangerous game of point fighting, while Schaub, who also reinvented himself in recent fights (avoiding the stand and bang game that had led to KO losses and questions about his chin), seemed to have regressed: swinging for the fences, but telegraphing each shot and leaving himself unprotected and out of position. Arlovski also seemed to respond to each of Schaubs shots and takedown attempts by tying the fight up alongside the cage. The first two frames played out in this fashion, until the final stanza: Schaub solidly won the third and it easily could have been his fight. He managed to score a key takedown and had top control for a large chunk of the third but couldn't capitalize, being unable to pass Arlovski's guard. Both fighters scored a couple of solid shot's each throughout the bout, but at the end, it became apparent that Schaub had taken some serious damage, with his face swollen. It looked like he broke something due to a short hard punch from Arlovski earlier in the fight upon replay, and there's a chance this damage came into play in the decision, which was split in favour of Arlovski. Of course, you don't judge damage in MMA, but in a fight with little action outside of Schaub's control of the third, you have to wonder. Next up came an exciting light heavyweight bout between Ryan "Darth" Bader, one time title shot prospect, and former Strikeforce champ Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante. Bader is the ultimate light heavyweight gatekeeper at this point (Machida, Glover, and Jones all worked their way to title shots through him), and he has enough power and wrestling skill to be a challenge for any opponent. Wrestling was the story in this fight, as was Bader's vicious knees, which seemed to come with every takedown, and drill into the ribs of Cavalcante. In all honesty, Feijao looked outclassed, and Bader almost completely dominated him for the first two rounds of a fight that would go the distance. Feijao started the third round strong but it was too little, too late as Darth took a unanimous decision, improving to 17-4. "If they want that title I expect to see a great fight non-stop from beginning to end." - Dana White on Woodley vs. Macdonald earlier in the night. There's no question that there are two Rory MacDonalds. You have the slick, serial-killer-esque machine that dismantled B.J. Penn, and the "is he even really there?" mail-it-in guy who showed up versus Jake Ellenberger. As a result, Saturday's match was as much about MacDonald's relevance to the title picture as it was a possible coming out party for the surging Woodley, who suggested that while "Ares" was possibly the future, his own time was now. Their match had previously been believed to be a title eliminator, however White has since given that distinction to Lawler vs. Brown in July. So how did Rory "Ares" MacDonald fare? Well, the heir apparent to GSP put on a dominant boxing clinic in front of a red hot hometown crowd in the co-main event of the eventing. In the three round welterweight affair, MacDonald controlled the cage, cut the angles, and kept Woodley hemmed in, jabbing and tagging Woodley at will. In the third, he took the fight to the mat, and upon passing guard unloaded some slick ground and pound. 84 head strikes, 35 body strikes, and his take down defense was excellent. The only criticism to be had was that he didn't finish, but lets be fair: Woodley, for his part, is a tough, legit opponent for anyone at 170lbs, and Rory made a statement in a sound drubbing of him. And then it was time for the main event, Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson versus Ali "The Puncher King" Bagautinov. This marked the first time a flyweight fight had headlined a PPV event, so there was a bit of history at play. The UFC has brought the lightest class along slowly, worried that fans wouldn't be interested in smaller men with less knockout power. Of course, over the years, boxing has transitioned from a focus on the big brutes to smaller, more skilled, quicker men, but such transitions take time, and there's a question as to whether or not MMA is at that point yet. The focus of the first round was really Ali Bagautinov's strong wrestling versus Mighty Mouse Johnson's speed, as Bagautinov was able to pick Johnson up and take him down hard, but rarely capitalized, and on the feet, the Puncher King's punches were essentially met with air, as Johnson's movement was too much for him to keep up with. Bagautinov scored a nice head kick in second, and kept the pressure up against the fence, which for a time had Mighty Mouse really struggling with the strength of the challenger. Johnson landed head kick of his own towards the end of the round. The first two rounds were pretty close, and while most had both to the champ, I would have given them one apiece. It was a good fight either way to that point, and it would continue to entertain. Bagautinov scored another takedown (suplex) in the third but Mighty Mouse finished strong and the two ended the round exchanging knees. At this point Johnson began pulling away with a solid lead, and the strikes landed heavily favoured Johnson. Johnson was wobbled in fourth by the Puncher King and the round ended with a submission attempt. The fifth saw some exciting exchanges and again Johnson was the busier striker, unloading knees from inside a Muay Thai clinch. Bagautinov continued to have trouble landing his strikes against the speedy Mighty Mouse, and that was all she wrote - twenty-five minutes seemed to speed pass as quickly as the talented men in the ring moved. The unanimous decision went to Mighty Mouse, 50-45 from all three judges. While I would have given a round to Bagautinov, I can't argue with the overall result. For their debut as a PPV headliner, the flyweights put forth a solid effort. What we really need next is a headlining match with some flair, which probably means a second shot for John "The Magician" Dodson. UFC 174 Main Card Results: FW Demetrious Johnson (Champion) defeated Ali Bagautinov via unanimous decision (50-45) WW Rory MacDonald defeated Tyron Woodley via unanimous decision (30-27) LHW Ryan Bader defeated Rafael Cavalcante via unanimous decision (30-27) HW Andrei Arlovski defeated Brendan Schaub via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) LHW Ovince St. Preux defeated Ryan Jimmo via Submission - injury due to Kimura (Round 2 - 2:10)