clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

UFC On Fox Photo: Painting Over The Blood In The Octagon

Moments before the heavyweight championship bout, a Fox Sports production crew touched up the Octagon with paint before UFC on Fox 1: Velasquez vs. dos Santos in an effort to cover up the blood stains on the mat from the night's earlier bouts.

By Nate Wilcox
Production crew paints over blood in the UFC Octagon before the heavyweight championship bout at UFC on Fox in Anaheim, California's Honda Center. Photo by <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/allelbows/statuses/135538751551180800"> Esther Lin.</a>
Production crew paints over blood in the UFC Octagon before the heavyweight championship bout at UFC on Fox in Anaheim, California's Honda Center. Photo by Esther Lin.

It's not uncommon for the canvas of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Octagon to be blood-stained at the beginning of a pay per view or cable television broadcast, but Fox Sports wasn't having it for the first UFC on Fox live special. In the moments before the UFC heavyweight championship bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, Fox officials dispatched a production crew to paint over the evening's bloodstained mat.

MMA Fighting's Esther Lin was ring side and captured the production crew in "cover up" mode. 

Complete Coverage: UFC on Fox Results

The preliminary fights featured only a couple of notably bloody fights, including Darren Uyenoyama's victory over Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto. The UFC has featured fights that spilled literal pools of blood over the mat that could barely be mopped up.

Moments after the quick touch up job, challenger dos Santos crushed champion Velasquez with a first round TKO. After taking a dos Santos right hand behind the ear, Velasquez fell right into the painted over spot on the mat and was finished shortly thereafter. 

In This Stream

UFC On Fox Results: Post-Event Commentary And Analysis

View all 10 stories