UFC 129 and Other Future UFC Events To Start an Hour Earlier?

So much for a full Saturday for MMA...or is it?

MMA Junkie reports that UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields will definitely be the first of the UFC's upcoming pay-per-view events to start at 9PM ET/8PM CT. UFC Fight Night 24 and the UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones card will not be affected by this move, which was made in consideration of East Coast fans.

Not only will this affect UFC 129, but it could remain intact for future PPV shows as well, meaning that the free events on Spike—Prelim specials, Fight Nights and the Versus cards—could also move up an hour.

One other thing that may be a big takeaway from this is a rival promotion by the name of Bellator Fighting Championships, which houses some of the stars of tomorrow and has also acquired former UFC Lightweight star Roger Huerta, former WEC Lightweight Champ "Razor" Rob McCullough and former two-time UFC fighter Jay Hieron.

When Bellator first signed on, the belief was that their deal with MTV 2 was flexible enough to where Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney could easily bump up their time slot so fans could watch Bellator's two-hour event and still be able to catch whatever event the UFC had on at the same time.

That's what ought to be the most interesting thing about this move the UFC has made—the question of whether or not MTV2 will stick by their word and allow Bellator to go on before the UFC, is one that will stand unanswered until April 30th.

Dana, I sure hope you know what you're doing when you say what you've said about this move.

Same goes for you and the deal you made with MTV 2, Bjorn.