ROUNDTABLE: Have the UFC's promotional efforts increased your anticipation for UFC 129? MMATorch staff and contributors comment
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I'm much more excited for the card as a whole than I am for a main event that might turn out to be the type of squash match that goes largely unseen outside of professional wrestling. ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR The promos for this fight have done nothing to increase my anticipation. The commercial for UFC 129 showing GSP walking back to the locker room from a fight and Shields walking by in street clothes is just plain awful. It is very Clubber Lang vs Rocky. The UFC promos are never riveting television, but this spot in particular is one of the worst I can remember. I think the UFC has not done a great job promoting this fight, but because of the quality of the card it should still have good buy rates. ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST The fact that not only do you get to see the best fighter in the world in Georges St. Pierre defend his title and extend his winning streak to three years straight, you also have Jose Aldo defending his belt, plus Randy Couture vs Lyoto Machida. GSP alone would have sold me on this card, but even though that alone sells the fight, the UFC trying to push this card and give it a hard sell is a nice touch because cards like these don't need that. It just shows that the UFC (and Zuffa in particular) are trying to establish MMA and break through any ceilings they have left. ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR I'm the first to complain when the UFC puts a dud event on pay-per-view (Vitor Belfort vs Yoshihiro Akiyama as a main event, anyone?), but any time Randy Couture vs Lyoto Machida is third from the top, you know it's a stacked card. So as to maintain objectivity as a reporter, I try to avoid getting sucked in to the UFC hype machine while still evaluating how well I think they are sucking in the average fan. I believe the commercials for the event and the Primetime show have done an excellent job of making it seem like Jake Shields has a better chance of winning than he actually does. MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Due to the top three fights and the fact that its the UFC's first stadium show, my anticipation sits at a solid 9 on a scale of 1-10. The GSP-Jake Shields commercials have been cool, but even the standard UFC pay-per-view promo would've been fine with me. The fact that every fight will be easily accessible is just icing on the cake.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_9188.shtml