UFC 238 took place Saturday night at United Center in Chicago and streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+ and ESPN. Below are recaps of the four fights that comprised the early prelims.

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Chookagian takes hard-fought decision over Calderwood, calls for title shot

Katlyn Chookagian left the octagon with a pair of reddened legs and a sizeable hematoma on her forehead, but she also earned a unanimous decision over Joanne Calderwood.

Chookagian’s volume and power punches were more convincing to the judges than Calderwood’s kicks and takedowns, leading to scores of 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

In a kick-heavy fight, Calderwood (13-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) walked down her opponent and went to work with leg kicks, while Chookagian (12-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) fired back with her own shots high and low. Calderwood managed to catch several and deposit her foe to the mat, where she struggled to rack up much offense.

Chookagian might’ve taken several trips to the mat, but she frequently made Calderwood taste her power with a straight right hand that left a swollen mouse on Calderwood’s right cheek.

The crowd wasn’t thrilled with the opening fight’s result, but Chookagian gets back in the win column after a split-decision loss to Jessica Eye. Chookagian called for the next title shot against either Valentina Shevchenko or Eye.

Calderwood sees a two-fight streak snapped.

Wineland wipes smile off Popov in second

UFC newcomer Grigorii Popov couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Then he met Eddie Wineland’s right hand – repeatedly.

With a quartet of right hands, the mustachioed Wineland (24-13-1 MMA, 6-7 UFC) sent Popov (14-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to the canvas in the second, then finished off the job at the 4:47 mark of the round.

Up until that point, Popov had shown a resilience indicative of his hardscrabble upbringing. Wineland came after him and caught him repeatedly with that right hand but couldn’t put him away. Then, he started having luck inside with his own right, and it looked like Wineland might be low on gas.

But in the end, Popov proved a little too lax in his striking defense, and Wineland made him pay before a home crowd that chanted his name.

Ex-WEC champ Wineland snaps a two-fight skid, and Popov suffers just the second loss of his career after a nine-fight streak.

Xiaonan squeaks past Hill to stay unbeaten in UFC

Yan Xiaonan may not have landed the bigger shots. As it turned out, she didn’t need them when her fight with Angela Hill went to the scorecards.

Judges unanimously saw the fight two rounds to one for Xiaonan, whose volume won the day over Hill’s power shots. The final scorecards were 29-28 across the board.

Hill (9-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) looked confused, no doubt because she’d repeatedly scored with big punches in the 15-minute fight. The issue may have been with her pace. For every shot she attempted, Xiaonan (11-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) had three. And while they rarely landed with the same authority, they left an impression.

Xiaonan needed to make up ground after a strong first-round start almost led to disaster as a takedown opened up a triangle choke attempt from Hill. The position was there and the squeeze was good, but Hill simply ran out of time.

Hill needed a breather from the near-finish, allowing Xiaonan to surge back in the second round. The final frame was a dogfight, with both competitors pushing to the very finish. Xiaonan picked up her fourth straight win and left Hill at 1-3 in her past four fights.

Stewart’s leg kicks batter Lewis before decision win

Darren Stewart didn’t repeat mistakes of the past by stuffing every takedown Bevon Lewis tried.

But after Lewis (6-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) took two of Stewart’s kicks, he wasn’t much in the mood to slug it out. And so, Stewart spent 15 minutes mostly in pursuit of Lewis before judges gave him a decision.

Final scorecards were 29-28 twice and 30-27 for Stewart (10-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC), who bounced back from getting out-grappled by Ronda Rousey client Edmen Shahbazyan. Lewis, making his second UFC appearance since a winning turn on Dana White’s Contender Series, remains winless in the promotion.

The only time the fight seemed to come alive was in the final seconds of each round as both fighters realized they had ground to gain. Lewis cracked Stewart after the bell with a right that forced referee intervention in the opening frame. A brief flash of energy in the third wasn’t enough to sustain any sort of engagement.

It wasn’t must-see TV, but it got the job done for Stewart.

For complete coverage of UFC 238, visit the UFC Events section of the site.