Blood on the canvas painted over before Cain vs. JDS

Famed British fighting ship H.M.S. Victory had part of the deck painted red, to make wounded sailors’ blood less noticeable.

The production crew of the UFC on FOX debuted apparently borrowed a page from history, and as seen in the image below from MMAFighting’s Esther Lin, painted over any blood stains minutes before the UFC debuted on national television on FOX.

The fear that the American mainstream, entirely unfamiliar with mixed martial arts, might be repelled by the sight of blood is a real one. While the damage inflicted by a boxing glove is more traumatic, it is over time internal. The soft tissue damage characteristic of mixed martial arts is less dangerous to the brain, but more onvious to the uninitiated. Thus the move was a sound one.

H.M.S. Victory was Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, defeating a larger combined French and Spanish fleet, sinking 22 enemy ships without loss of a single vessel, and capturing or killing the enemy Admirals. This cemented the United Kingdom as the world’s preeminent power for over 100 years. So they must have been doing something right.

The UFC and FOX appear to be on the right track too.