Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy Does Record Ratings

According to the cable television network, the debut episode aired on March 10 at 10:00 pm ET on Spike TV and recorded a record-high one million viewers for a 1.1 rating overall.

In comparison, last year's "Primetime" special, constructed around the colossal UFC 94 welterweight title fight between St. Pierre and BJ Penn landed 880,000 viewers for a .73 rating.

- MMA Mania has very positive rating news for the UFC following the debut episode of UFC Primetime: Dan Hardy vs. George St. Pierre

These Primetime shows usually do good viewership and having two very interesting personalities is always a big help.  Taking their cues from HBO's boxing 24/7 shows the Primetime specials allow fans to identify with the fighters and see what they're going through.  Emotional investments in fighters means bigger buyrates.

It isn't Brock Lesnar's abilities as a top fighter that make him the sport's biggest draw, it's the fact that people want to see him because they deeply care if he wins or loses.

While St. Pierre is an amazing fighter and that carries a lot of weight for many people, his best drawing fights are always when he has a loudmouth willing to play the villain standing across the Octagon from him.  And if Dan Hardy is anything, it's a brash loudmouth.

It will be very interesting to see if the second episode is able to build on these ratings and carry momentum into the PPV.