UFC Primetime will return to Spike TV to air a three-part series featuring GSP vs. Jake Shields leading up to UFC 129. The series begins this Wednesday.
Via UFC press release:
UFC Primetime, produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), is a look into the lives and preparation of St-Pierre, arguably the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, and Shields, who has notched 15 straights wins over the likes of Yushin Okami and Dan Henderson and has not lost since 2004, as the showdown between the two welterweight titans in Toronto approaches. Spike TV will present three special weekly installments that will take viewers to the Bay Area of California to see how Shields is honing his patented “American Jiu Jitsu” skills for his title shot, and to Montreal to see how St-Pierre, one of the most beloved athletes in Canada, is preparing for his title defense.
Payout Perspective:
If the Strikeforce event this weekend didn’t hype up UFC 129 enough, UFC Primetime returns to show us the fight camps of Shields and GSP. TUF 13 should serve as a lead-in to UFC Primetime so it will be interesting to see the ratings for TUF 13 in comparison with ratings for Primetime.
GSP has been a huge ratings draw in his past two Primetime showings with Dan Hardy and BJ Penn. It reached 1 million and 880K viewers respectively in the first episode of those Primetime series. We can expect more of the same with Jake Shields as his opponent. The one question will be whether TUF 13 can piggyback off of the ratings.
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