There seem to be some leaps in the argument.

No kidding: it's complete bollocks. But it looks more like two layers of misunderstanding than an attempt at deception. The relevant reference is Ausonius Eclogues 23.33-6, and that is merely a poetic periphrasis for gladiators shedding each others' blood. The passage reads

et gladiatores funebria proelia notum
decertasse foro: nunc sibi harena suos
vindicat extremo qui iam sub fine Decembris
falcigerum placant sanguine Caeligenam.

It's also well known that gladiators used to compete in fights
at funeral games in the forum; now, the sand claims for its own
those who, nowadays, near the end of December
with their blood appease the sickle-bearing heaven-born one [i.e. Saturn].

The Wikipedia article reports the poetic image literally ("Saturn is recorded as receiving dead gladiators as offerings (munera) during or near the Saturnalia") and thereby conceals the obvious fact that it's just talking about gladiators shedding blood on the occasion of a religious festival. This may not be intentional, though it surely is misleading.