The ratings are in for the premiere episode of UFC "Primetime," featuring Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and title challenger Jake Shields, and they're nothing to write home about.
Episode one of the three-part series drew 610,000 viewers for its debut on Spike TV this past Wednesday, April 13, 2011, according to Sherdog.com.
Why are the numbers slightly alarming? Because in comparison to past seasons, they fall short enough of the mark that they are the worst (for a debut episode) in the history of the series.
The four previous installments featured Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans (1.2 million viewers), St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy (1 million viewers), Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez (974,000 viewers) and St. Pierre vs. Penn 2 (880,000 viewers).
Episodes two and three are scheduled to run prior to UFC 129: "St. Pierre vs. Shields," which is set to take place from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 30. In fact, you can catch them on April 20 and 27, respectively, at 12 a.m. ET on Spike TV.
If you happened to miss episode one, you can watch it, in its entirety, by clicking here.