UFC promotional spots sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher to me now.

They’re a collection of indistinguishable noise and sounds that have no impact on my perception of whatever they’re promoting. They have been tuned out — fully and completely — and that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

This is what happens when promotional campaigns are direct towards people that are just stumbling onto your sport for the first time and your core audience is (best case) taken for granted or (worst case) thought to have zero functional memory…or an Internet connection.

In spending my Saturday afternoon riding the couch watching UFC 171 from start-to-finish, I enjoyed a steady rotation of trailers promoting the various upcoming UFC events. While the UFC 172 ad is on point — visually appealing, no awful music making your ears bleed; an all-around solid effort — and my only objection to the Abu Dhabi trailer is that "dynamic" isn’t how I would choose to describe Clay Guida, the sales pitches for the current season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil and Sunday’s Fight Night event are brutal.

They’re kind of insulting to my intelligence as a fight fan and my guess is there are others that feel the same way. Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva aren’t each others’ greatest rivals, so no, the faux-animus between them that has been inflated to sell this season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil isn’t anywhere near the greatest rivalry in MMA history.

Everything about the tension between these two has felt fake from Day 1. I’ll still watch to laugh at the ridiculous interactions between the coaches, but please don’t tell me this is something historically significant. They’re two fading fighters getting by on pumped-up tension and promises of something crazy happening during one of the shows, not bitter rivals preparing to settle a long-standing feud.

The marketing of Sunday’s light heavyweight headliner between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson is even worse. Was their battle at UFC 139 an instant classic? Absolutely, but that in no way makes this the most anticipated rematch in UFC history — not by a long shot.

Even if a second meeting between the two veterans took place six months after their first encounter, that descriptor still wouldn’t have been apt, so it certainly isn’t now — 28 months later — with Henderson riding a three-fight losing streak and Rua one win removed from having people question whether he should hang up his four-ounce gloves.

Yes, the UFC is in the fight promotion business and they’re always going to work on selling the next event, but there has got to be a better way than slapping a "biggest fight ever" tag on every event and calling it a day. It’s not only lazy, but it’s also problematic on two different fronts.

First, it ignores history.

Sonnen’s greatest rival is Anderson Silva, period. Wanderlei has a few that rank ahead of "The Gangster from West Linn," including Quentin "Rampage" Jackson and Chuck Liddell. As much as everyone hopes Henderson and Rua can rekindle the magic of their first encounter this weekend, the anticipation for this fight is no where close to the fervor that accompanied the sequels between Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn, Silva and Sonnen, or Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir.

What makes the willful omission of historically greater rivalries and rematches even worse is that we’re only four months removed from commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the UFC with the great "Fighting for a Generation" documentary. You can’t wax nostalgic at the journey to UFC 167 and then pretend there has been nothing better than the here and now four months later.

You can, but it rings hollow.

Secondly, setting up every fight as "the biggest ever" creates a "boy who cried wolf" situation.

If every fight is the "biggest fight ever," how do fans differentiate between the bouts that genuinely deserve such designations and the ones where the company is pushing knockoffs as the genuine article?

While that may sound like something the organization can deal with down the road, the reality is that plenty of fans are already frustrated with the current state of the UFC and they need to be addressed. As novel — and perhaps naïve — as this may sound, transparency and truthfulness would go along way right about now.

Fans know when they’re getting the hard sell and no one really appreciates it, so switching it up and promoting a fight without the over-the-top sales pitch would be a welcome change. Stop calling everyone a contender and saying that everyone is only a win or two away from a title shot—it’s not the case and suggesting otherwise detracts from those who actually are contenders and a win or two away.

Putting a positive spin on everything and glossing over losses and suspensions is pointless — all the stories and results are available, so just address situations head-on. Dealing with the unpleasant bits is much better than glossing over them or ignoring them entirely. There are plenty of intelligent fans out there who don’t need to be buried in an avalanche of promotional nonsense — they like fights and will keep watching as long as you don’t make them feel like they’re getting shortchanged or treated like they’re stupid.

That’s the audience the UFC should keep in mind when they’re coming up with ways to promote fights and push events. They’re loyal and passionate, but right now both of those traits are being tested. As much as capturing new casual fans is always important, retaining the hardcore set that has been on board long-term is critical as well, and that group is starting to tune out the UFC.

It feels like we’re at a tipping point: hardcore fans are either going to dive head-first into the vast ocean of fights available to them or pull the plug and become more selective with their UFC intake. Considering how many people are already tuning out the promotional noises, it looks like a decline in numbers is on the horizon, but the impact can be lessened.

All it takes is being honest with the audience.

The first bout between Henderson and Rua was an epic battle and — fingers crossed — the second one will be too. Is it the biggest rematch in the history of rematches? No, but it doesn’t need to be — the first one was good enough to make us watch the sequel on Sunday.

Simple. Plain. True.

It works a lot better than the video clips with Charlie Brown’s teacher doing the voiceovers.