UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Penn debuts this Wednesday

speeds · Jan 12, 2009

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=17010

2009 is not even two weeks old, and already anticipationis building for the fight many are calling not only the fight of the year, but the fight of the decade, as UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre meets UFC lightweight champion BJ <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%;">Penn</nobr><nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%;"> </nobr>in a rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on January 31st.

It’s the type of fight that needs no introduction to true fight fans, but by the same token, it’s also the kind of showdown that can introduce new fans to the sport as its being waged at its highest level.

Enter UFC Primetime, which premieres on Spike TV on Wednesday, January 14th at 10pm. More than just a countdown show, the series will air in three parts on the three Wednesdays leading up to the fight and take fight fans behind the scenes and into the lives of St-Pierre and Penn like never before. For the UFC, there was no better time than now and no better fight than GSP-Penn to kick off the series.

“This is the biggest fight the UFC has ever promoted, and we knew that both the personalities and the story lines would make for a great show,” said Craig Borsari, the UFC’s Executive Vice President of Operations and Production. “In UFC Primetime, the viewer will see the fighters in situations we've never seen them in before. We typically spend three days with a fighter for a normal Countdown show. For this series we're spending 25 days with each fighter. That gives us the ability to get more spontaneous moments with the fighters. The storytelling will be different also. The viewer will get a much deeper understanding of who these fighters are and what makes them tick.”

Of course, with such an increased commitment to not only gathering the content over a longer period of time, but doing so in such diverse locales as Hawaii and Montreal, there is a lot more involved financially (the series is reportedly six times more expensive than the average Countdown show), and logistics become part of the juggling act.

“The extremely tight turn around is the biggest logistical issue,” said Borsari. “Having one production crew in Hilo, another in Montreal, and our post house in NYC makes it very challenging to get footage back to our producers in NYC in a timely manner and turn it around for air in a matter of days.”

Luckily for the production team, gaining complete access to St-Pierre and Penn has been no issue at all.

“Both fighters have been great in giving us all access to their camps,” said Borsari last week. “We've captured some great moments already and we aren’t even a quarter of the way done with shooting.”

For the viewers at home, the difference between UFC Primetime and the UFC’s usual Countdown shows is that the fighters are being filmed as close to the fight as possible.For example, when you watch the January 28th edition of the show, the content will have been filmed in the previous few days, as opposed to a couple months out. It’s as close as you can get to a weekly training camp update, coupled with interviews with camp and family members that give new insight into what St-Pierre and Penn are going through before the biggest fight of their careers. So don’t expect a re-hash of past material – this is all new and focused on January 31st.

“In this show we're not going to spend a lot of time explaining where these guys came from,” said Borsari. “This show is about being in the moment with each fighter. The viewer will understand who the fighter is by the end of the series and will hopefully develop a deeper interest in one or both of the fighters.”

And if viewers respond to the first three episodes of UFC Primetime, it may not be the last time we see it.

“We'll see how this one goes, but if it’s as successful as we anticipate, then it’s likely you will see a couple of these a year.”
Click to expand...

speeds · Jan 12, 2009

<embed width="448" height="365" align="middle" src="http://www.spike.com/efp" quality="high" bgcolor="000000" name="efp" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="flvbaseclip=3092973&"></embed></pre>

speeds · Jan 14, 2009

speeds · Jan 14, 2009

The most anticipated rematch in UFC history... the case could be made for Liddell/Couture II or Ortiz/Liddell II, but I'll give them this one.

Chocolove · Jan 14, 2009

GSP is so much bigger than BJ Penn.

Celtic Fan · Jan 14, 2009

GSP will probably weigh around 185 come fight time, but it won't bother BJ. He'll be using his quickness to beat GSP to the punch.. will it be enough or will GSP's power take over? Will GSP take BJ down and rain elbows on him?? BJ has lost just 4 fights and only one didn't go the distance when Matt Hughes won in the 3rd round via TKO. This is going to be an epic fight.

Chocolove · Jan 14, 2009

I expect GSP to do to Penn what Hughes did to Penn.

speeds · Jan 14, 2009

Good show! Too short, though. Should be an hour. And the "Dana calling BJ, BJ not picking up" angle seemed like a work.

speeds · Jan 15, 2009

Watch 'em before Zuffa pulls 'em.

[video=youtube;aAcQjmdwDAs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAcQjmdwDAs[/video]
[video=youtube;bxWZ6GsYAs0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWZ6GsYAs0[/video]
[video=youtube;X-2VYWJd6cw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-2VYWJd6cw[/video]

Celtic Fan · Jan 15, 2009

The show was too short indeed.

Dana must have gotten a call to let him know BJ was not training to make that call at that time. He's got someone feeding him info.
now was it someone from BJ's camp or the producers? If it's A: not a work, if it's B: ugh.. werk!

bbwtrench · Jan 15, 2009

Whoa! GSP partying!!! haha. Good Video! Im hype!!!!

speeds · Jan 21, 2009

speeds · Jan 28, 2009

Chocolove · Jan 28, 2009

This episode was sick. I really liked the music they picked. If anyone knows the song during the rashad part and the song during the end of the episode. let me know.

speeds · Jan 28, 2009

Chocolove said: ↑

This episode was sick. I really liked the music they picked. If anyone knows the song during the rashad part and the song during the end of the episode. let me know.
Click to expand...

They made Rashad seem like a total badass in that episode. He's like a gunslinger from a Robert Rodriguez movie. "Dey call im... la muerte ardiente... the fiery death... no man as seen is eyes an lived to tell you de colour..."

Mamba · Jan 28, 2009

speeds said: ↑

They made Rashad seem like a total badass in that episode. He's like a gunslinger from a Robert Rodriguez movie. "Dey call im... la muerte ardiente... the fiery death... no man as seen is eyes an lived to tell you de colour..."
Click to expand...

Too bad Rashad isn't a total bad ass and will get handled by Rampage :]

That under water cardio training by Penn was fucking intense.

War Penn!

Knock the shit outta that French Canadian!

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UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Penn debuts this Wednesday

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