Meaning Behind UFC’s Paul Craig’s Face Paint Explained

Paul Craig is set to face off against Caio Borralho in the Farmasi Arena, Rio de Janeiro, at the upcoming UFC 301. Unable to get his hands on a winning streak, Craig strives to get the win by whatever means possible. One of those means is intimidating his opponents by wearing face paint.

Before the face-off, Craig likes to paint his face with blue stripes. Although many claim the stripes to be a tribute to his Scottish heritage, the real story behind its origin is indeed a funny one. And yes. It involves the current BKFC contender, Mike Perry.

Paul Craig once narrated the story behind his face paint

‘Bearjew’ likes to paint his face in blue stripes that supposedly shower fear in his opponents’ minds. While many in the world of mixed martial arts have wondered about the reason behind his face paint, the Scottish fighter once revealed the story behind it, pointing the finger toward the former UFC contender, Mike Perry.

Craig recollected in the podcast ‘Morning Kombat’ last year, “So, Mike Perry then starts speaking to me and he was super intense like, ‘you Scottish?’ And I was like, ‘Aye.’ And he was like, ‘f***ing Braveheart?’, and I was like ‘aye’ he was like see if I was you,’ and I was like, ‘aye’, and he’s like, ‘I’d f***ing do the blue paint, man. And I’d f***ing let’s go Scotland.’ I look for my coach and I went, ‘that’s a f***ing brilliant idea!’” 

Thereafter, Craig revealed that the team got his face painted up. But what shone through the moment was Perry’s reaction to it. “So they paint me up. They make, they actually make this proper, like make-up for me. They only painted my face. As I’m walking down, right, I’ve got my hood up, as I get to the hotel, Mike Perry is in the canteen. He kicks the fire door on. The alarms are going off… He kicks that full force. Boom! And he was like, ‘Let’s f***ing go, Scotland!’” the fighter mentioned. And that’s how the now 36-year-old found his fear-extracting face paint regime. 

In another instance, Craig revealed that it inflicted fear on his opponents. He revealed that when he stood and looked deep into his enemy, the blue tinge from his eyes mixed with the blue paint seemingly gave a “menacing look”. Surprisingly, it was a successful try on many occasions. However, he also got dissed by his opponent because of it.

‘Bearjew’ got unexpected diss from a rival on iconic ‘Braveheart’ impression

While the face paint looks like the main character from the movie ‘Braveheart’, the Scotsman once got severe heat from Johnny Walker. Back in 2023, during the face-off between Walker and Craig for their fight at UFC 283, the Scottish mixed martial artist rubbed off some of his facial paint onto his opponent. This, in turn, infuriated the Brazilian. 

Walker took to Twitter to express his wrath. The Brazilian fighter wrote, “Face of the way I like, he make my face dirty with his painting, tomorrow it will be his blood.” Unfortunately for Craig, the fight turned in Walker’s favor. Within the very first round, Walker sent forth a right hook that made ‘Bearjew’ wobbly. Soon after, he sent barrages of hammer fists, which left the referee with no choice but to declare Walker the victor. Although the Brazilian stood up to his word and defeated Craig, the face paint regime still goes strong for the Scottish fighter.

What do you think of Paul Craig’s face paint? Do you think the blue stripes make him look more menacing? Would this strategy work in his upcoming fight at UFC 301? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.