UFC 129 St. Pierre vs Shields Primetime Debut Is Anything But Primetime

At the end of the month, the UFC will promote their largest event ever at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. Headlined by Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields, the UFC and Spike TV have decided to promote the card with the fifth Primetime series. Primetime's have been a great way to gain interest in these major events with every single one having a direct effect on the massive Pay Per View buys. 

This time around though the time slot is anything but primetime. Airing at Midnight last night on Spike TV, the show may not be as effective as the previous attempts. While I don't doubt that the pay per view broadcast will do massive numbers for the UFC, it would appear that the once strong relationship between Zuffa and Spike TV is on the downslide. The ratings for The Ultimate Fighter so far have been a disappointment, with fans not drawn in due to a lack of legitimate heat between coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, as well are a cast that really lacks a breakout star. 

With Spike TV setting Primetime in the midnight time slot, this could be seen as an attempt at making a power play as this is the final year of the contract. The ratings are not yet in, but the Prime Time series may also begin to stagnate without a serious kick in the ass. To date, of the five Primetimes, St. Pierre has been the focus of three, building fights that don't seem particularly competitive outside of the St. Pierre/Penn fight to viewers. While Jake Shields does present a unique test grappling, he lacks to takedowns of Josh Koscheck or the stand up of Thiago Alves to keep Georges St. Pierre guessing on what to expect. 

The episode opens with the voice over speaking of Georges' accomplishments while trying to build up Shields as the biggest threat to the welterweight crown. The humble St. Pierre of old has been replaced by a more cocky model who talks about his greatness. Shields is sold as a multiple promotion champion in multiple weight classes but when showing video of his stand up abilities, it quickly becomes apparent that Shield's is robotic. St. Pierre's camp sells his training and skill level while Jake is sold as the first true test to St. Pierre's title. It's a hard sell but one that we've heard before. Dan Hardy was supposed to be St. Pierre's first test as he had the best stand up in the division, Alves were sold as being a Muay Thai wrecking machine, and Josh Koscheck was marketed as the only fighter in the division with the ability to put St. Pierre to the mat.

The UFC has a star in St. Pierre but their attempts at selling fights as ultra-competitive have become old and outdated. Shields has made great strides in improving his skills but he's still the same man who barely squeaked by Martin Kampman in his UFC debut. While Kampman is a tough fight for anyone, he's not at the same level of St. Pierre and if Shields had trouble getting and keeping Kampman on the mat, what can he truly do against St. Pierre who is viewed as one of the greatest all around fighters in the world? 

Primetime started as a fresh way to market the UFC's mega fights; unfortunately, the format has become tired when attempting to build up opposition for such a dominant champion. The episode last night left much to be desired and the ratings at that timeslot will tell us a lot about St. Pierre's current market reach after a series of boring albeit dominant performances. I hope that things change to make the series more interesting in the future, but it will take someone other than St. Pierre to do that. 

Video of the episode after the jump...