The preliminary card of UFC 174 started off with a bang Saturday night! Live from Vancouver, Canada, the UFC had loaded the preliminary card with local talent, though for a couple of bouts, fighters would be familiar to followers of the Ultimate Fighter reality series. Case in point: Kajan Johnson, a member of team Canada on TUF Nations who had his jaw obliterated (broken in several places) after a fight with eventual winner Chad Laprise. Kajan had a ton of good will surrounding him in the MMA community, in part due to the devasting nature of the injury he suffered, and in part because of a coaching contreversy which surrounded his fight on TUF: Nations Canada vs. Australia. On the show, Canada's winning ways led to a number of fights between teammates in the cage, which meant the coaching team had to be split. Johnson wound up with an underpopulated corner, and it looked as if coach Patrick Cote was favouring Laprise. With all this, the UFC opted to have him open the televised portion of the prelims Saturday. Unfortunately, there was to be no Cinderalla story against South Korea's Tae Hyun Bang, who flat out spoiled Johnson's moment in the spotlight. Both fighters looked strong in the striking department to start, and the crowd was firmly behind Johnson, who scored a takedown early in the first but found himself rolled over with his neck exposed to the South Korean, who attempted a guilltine choke. After Johnson reversed out the action went back to the feet. Bang seemed to have Johnson timed, almost catching a kick, and later knocked him down with a solid punch, though Ragin' Kajan would recover. Johnson would later answer with a solid right hand of his own, and end the round pressing forward throwing kicks, knees and strikes as well as securing another takedown. The second round would up similar to the first: Johnson with a takedown, Bang rolling him over. Bang opened up a nasty cut above the eyebrow of Johnson with an elbow. Back on the feet, Johnson would land a solid punch up against the fence and take Bang down yet again; the remainder of the round saw exchanges on the feet, and the fight went to the third. In the third Bang scored another knockdown, and his significant strikes were making the difference - Johnson was landing plenty of stikes of his own, but without the same impact. In shades of an earlier exchange, Bang countered a kick and knocked Johnson out with a perfectly timed right hand. Ref Big John McCarthy would wave off the action. Next up was number eight ranked Mike Easton taking on Yves Jabouin in a Bantamweight tilt. The fight would open with an early eye poke; after that stoppage, Jaboouin would eventually take "the Hulk" down. Action on the ground was scare, with the ref encouraging the fighters to move. Eventually Easton would wall-walk his way back to his feet. the fighters would each score another takedown by the round's end, with Jabouin having far more control overall. The second and third rounds would be much the same, with Jabouin taking the second and Easton coming back strong in the third. With the fight going the distance, Jabouin took the fight in a unanimous decision (29-28). Woman's MMA would steal the show again in the next fight. Valerie "Trouble" Letourneau vs. Elizabeth Phillips saw two debuting woman's bantamweight fighters, both short notice replacements. The bout was originally scheduled to be Germaine de Randamie against Milana Dudieva, however first de Randamie then Dudieva went down to injury. Letourneau was making a big leap entering the fight, having never fought in the UFC officially, although she had participated in season 18 of the Ultimate Fighter, failing to win her way into the house. With a 5-3 record, she found herself debuting in her home country to a ton of pressure, though it's worth noting that in two of her early losses, she had fought Alexis Davis and Sarah Kaufman. Also new to the UFC, Phillips (4-1), a Spokane, Washington native, boasted a four fight win streak in Conquest of the Cage after a debut loss, and was making a big leap of her own, with lesser competition under her belt in comparison to Trouble. The fight opened strong, with Phillips clinching right off the bat and Letourneau immediately answering with a knee. Action on the feet was brisk with both fighters exchanging punches and kicks at close range early on. It appeared that Letourneau had been injured with a cut under the right eye and swelling under the left, and Phillips began targeting the injury to the left with solid jabs. Letourneau managed to answer with strikes, looking to land an uppercut, and some solid kicks. Both fighters were breathing heavy and trading more strikes in the second round, with some wild uppercuts. Part way through round two, strikes attempted were 73 to 60 strikes attempted in favour of Letourneau. This fight was becoming an all out war, and Letourneau's face looked like a battlefield injury, with her left eye almost swollen shut. Heading into the third, Letourneau's corner suggested that Phillips was done (gassed) between rounds, and to take it to her. Phillips, for her part, showed great heart and stuck with it, stalling against the fence to catch a much needed breath. When Trouble was able to break free, the two began a slug fest and finished the round trading kicks and punches with the crowd roaring their approval. As Joe Rogan pointed out, the naysayers about woman's MMA have since been proven wrong. Letourneau would take a well-deserved split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28), but both women deserve a ton of credit for putting on a great show, on short notice no less. In the headlining fight of the preliminary card, Kiichi Kunimoto took advantage of a fighter who looked less than stellar on the ground midway through the first round of the fight for a tight rear-naked choke finish. He managed to take advantage of opponent Daniel Sarafin giving up his back after a takedown, and forced the tap quickly. From Osaka, Japan, it was Kiichi's eighth first round finish of his career, moving him to 17-5-2 (1NC). Overall, it was a solid night of action on the prelims, with 3 of 4 fights really delivering. UFC 174 Preliminary Card Results: WW Kiichi Kunimoto defeated Daniel Sarafian via rear-naked choke (Round 1 - 2:52) BW Valerie Letourneau defeated Elizabeth Phillips via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) BW Yves Jabouin defeated Mike Easton via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) LW Tae Hyun Bang defeated Kajan Johnson via KO (punch) (Round 3 - 2:01)