The Weekly Wrap: March 13 - March 19

UFC Primetime

Week two of the Spike TV “Primetime” series highlighting Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy delved into both fighters’ training and looked to draw contrasts between GSP’s star-studded camp and Hardy’s more solitary preparations.

It didn’t appear to hold the attention of public en masse, however, as the television rating dropped to an average viewership of 506,000 for the second episode Wednesday on Spike TV, a drop from a record 1 million viewers last week, according to MMAPayout.com. While the first “Primetime” series saw audience declines for all three installments, the 506,000 number represents the lowest audience yet to watch the premiere airing of a “Primetime” episode.

The episode opened with Hardy watching last week’s episode at a Hooters restaurant in New Jersey, where patrons cheered him. A new dimension was added to Hardy’s character thanks to some 2000 home video footage that depicted him practicing some Crouching Tiger-esque martial arts stances during a training retreat to North China.

In a play off last week’s cliffhanger ending, Hardy was shown drilling submissions with former GSP conqueror Matt Serra, but closed with him hitting mitts by his lonesome. St. Pierre was shown training in Montreal with Nate Marquardt, Patrick Cote and Kenny Florian.

Spike TV paired the second “Primetime” episode with a “Countdown” special highlighting the UFC 111 co-main event between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin and the welterweight title eliminator between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves. Mir was at his sharp-tongued best, as the special brilliantly juxtaposed flashbacks of nemesis Brock Lesnar foaming at the mouth after his win over Mir at UFC 100 with Mir’s comments about beating Lesnar being “the key to his sanity.”

While the productions were slick, there was an embarrassing snafu. Spike TV on several occasions aired commercials from last year’s “Primetime” series highlighting GSP and B.J. Penn as if it were that series that was concluding next Wednesday.