She first got into cagefight photography when she found out a gym mate of hers, Johnny Curtis, had an upcoming fight in UWC 4. “I asked a local newspaper if they’d like an interview with him and an article with photos,” she says. “I had been photographing workouts at my gym for a while so I sent them a few sample shots and they gave me the press creds. I had such a blast the night of the event, I knew I wanted to do it again.”

Melanie admits that it wasn’t easy being the new girl on the block, especially with so many esteemed MMA photogs like Keith Mills, Tracy Lee, Dave Mandel, and Paul Thatcher running around. “I remember early on at one of the bigger shows I was trying to be friendly and asked another photographer who he was and who he shot for. I guess he was annoyed I didn’t recognize him because he never said a word to me, he just took out a business card and literally flicked it at me! No kidding, it bounced off my chest and landed on the cage apron. I was stunned. Who does that?”

A douchebag, that’s who.

Since then she has become a regular at the big shows. She shot Ultimate Fight Night 20 when the UFC came to Fairfax, VA and if you look closely at the reruns you can see Ranger Up’s own Kelly Crigger shooting for FIGHT! magazine next to her. Mel also tries to make it to as many smaller events as she can. “I love being cageside. You hear every grunt, every impact, the cornermen screaming, the crowd chanting… it’s surreal. It doesn’t matter if you’re shooting a sold out Patriot Center, or some warehouse in Fredericksburg, VA- every fight is epic in its own way. That’s what I try to capture.”

And that’s why we like her.

Prior to running Cage Camera, Melanie worked as a government contractor specializing in human factors for aviation and military applications. “I have a great deal of respect for the men and women of the military, which is why I’m so humbled that Ranger Up has decided to sponsor me. Thanks for the love!”

You can check out Melanie’s website at www.cagecamera.com and follow her at Twitter.com/CageCamera.

Initially the family was told that with mild chemo and radiation treatments Diego would be okay, but by November of 2004 the treatments were not working and the family was told Diego only had 6 months to live. Chico was devastated. They tried hard to find Diego some experimental treatment, but nothing seem to work. After 7 hospitals, 22 doctors, $956,000 dollars in medical bills and many many chemo and radiation treatments, nothing could stop Diego’s cancer. They then concentrated their efforts on giving diego his last wishes.

His wish was to be a Navy chief petty officer, like his father. The US Navy, with permission from Congress, allowed Diego Santiago to be in the history books as the youngest chief petty officer in the Navy. His ceremony was a large event. His dream had come true.

On August 2, 2006, five days after his 6th birthday. Diego Enrique Santiago passed away at home in his parents arms. After a long 3 1/2 years of missing his son and a long deployment to Iraq, Chico decided to do something about this terrible illness and started In The Cage 4 Cancer, a non-profit organization aimed at raising awareness and contributions to fight cancer. As a veteran, Chico qualifies to be a Ranger Up sponsored fighter, so we’re throwing out weight behind him and supporting his octagon dreams.

Please check out Chico’s site at www.Inthecage4cancer.com and donate if you can.

His toughest win was over 10-3 Lewis McKenzie to earn the Legacy FC Bantamweight Title. McKenzie was 7-0 at the time and generally regarded as a regional bad ass. The win bumped Robo to the #1 ranked pound for pound fighter in his region (as well as #1 bantamweight), and now has opened the door for his Strikeforce fight on August 21st against the #2 ranked bantamweight, Humberto Deleon.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Rangerified bio if we didn’t have some ball busting, so here goes:

Ranger Up didn’t make an shirt small enough to fit Robo, so we had to custom order them using the excuse that we were manufacturing dolls to justify it.

Robo once went to a horse track to watch a race. When he was mistaken for a jockey and led into the rider’s club, he played the part and walked out with a new pair of boots, a helmet, and a few riding crops. Since then his students stopped talking back.

Whenever Robo needs to smile in a photo, he recalls the time his buddy, “Dan The Captain of the Titanic” crashed into an iceberg in the middle of the desert. Ask him about it.

Robo’s work ethic borders on the extreme. Federal authorities once raided his gym on a tip that children were being used as slave labor. Instead they found Robo practicing armbars until he finished “99 bottles of beer on the wall.”

Robo named his dog John just to piss off all the Fluff’s and Rover’s of the world.

One night Robo was drinking in the barracks (imagine that) when an argument broke out over who Keanu Reeves’ wingman in Point Break was…Nick Nolte or Gary Busey. A fight broke out and a guy in his squad named “Melton” (we suspect he totally made that name up) decided to jump in while the perpetrators were scuffling and came off the top rack of the bunks with a Jimmy Superfly Snuka elbow to the head of the guy who said it was Busey. Turns out it really was Busey, but who cares. You don’t need a valid reason to go WWE during a good barracks fight.

Be sure to watch Chad Robichaux August 21st on Showtime when he fights Humberto Deleon on the Strikeforce undercard.

And check out this article on Chad from Graciemag.com

The Filthy 50:

Fifty repetitions of each exercise for time of:
Wall Ball (20 pound ball)
Pull-ups
Push-ups
Box jumps
Sledge hammer slams
Burpees
Air squats
Kettlebell swings

Time to beat 14:45
Middle of the pack 17:30
Last man 28:04

Esther Lin of Strikeforce catches Tim Kennedy seconds after his submission victory

Tim’s practically asleep in the locker room, only an hour before his fight – a spectacular juxtaposition to the intensity that Cyborg Santos has been maintaining for the last two hours next door. Top ranked 145 pounder Brandon Garner, striking coach Jason Webster, UFC Fighter Jared Hamman, and I are passing the time talking about new movies coming out. I honestly believe that the rest of us have more nervous energy than Tim does.

When we’re thirty minutes out, Tim starts to warm up, doing a few rounds with Brandon on the pads and then some pummeling with Jared before deciding he was warm enough. We watched on our closed circuit television as KJ Noons’s hand was raised in his decision victory over Conor Heun. The Strikeforce handler arrived at our door and we were instantly moving.

No matter how many times you walk out to the cage as a corner, it is always surreal. The air is electric, excitement and nervousness fill your stomach, and everything happens faster than it appears on television. The crowd only exacerbates those feelings.

Tim walks through the fighter port, and Brandon, Jason and I walk around through the corner entrance, meeting Tim at the cage door. He strips off his War Eagle Flag shirt and hat and I collect them as Big John McCarthy checks him off and Brandon and Jason raise his banner.

Tim Kennedy is staring across the ring at Trevor Prangley, his toughest challenge to date in an Olympic Wrestler who has never been submitted and has spent the last few months at the world-renowned American Kickboxing Academy. On Tim’s banner, right underneath the Ranger Up emblem sit two giant logos: The Green Beret Foundation and Soldiers’ Angels – two military nonprofits that Tim is proud to support.

Seconds later the fight begins as we are ushered to our corner area.

Tim pushes a frenetic pace, attacking Trevor. Both men connect and Tim has a small scratch above his eye. Brandon, a phenomenal corner, lets him know it is nothing. They lock up and Trevor nails a perfect Harai-Goshi Judo Throw, no doubt mastered under the tutelage of Dave Camarillo. It is a sight to behold. I hold my breath.

Tim is nonplussed. He rolls through, regains his balance and works back to his feet where he gains the clinch and hits Prangley with a great hook and peppers him with dirty boxing against the cage. Prangley, known for his tenacity, uses his Greco/Judo skills again and throws Tim a second time. Tim easily rolls through but this time completes a takedown and gets on top.

As anyone who has ever had the (mis)fortune to roll with Tim knows, once he gets on top, your life is a freaking nightmare. Tim rapidly works through guard to half guard and then to mount, the whole time punishing Prangley.

As expected, Prangley rolls to his stomach and stands up. Against most fighters, and in fact, all of the thirty other men that Prangley had met in the cage in his pro career, his power and wrestling would have saved the day and returned him to his feet.

Tim submitted him for the first time in his career with an incredibly technical rear naked joke from a standing position at just over three minutes of the very first round.

It happened so fast in fact, that we in the corner didn’t realize Prangley had tapped until Tim threw his hands up in joy and we saw that Trevor had slumped to the ground.

The underdog had won and in dominant fashion. Tim’s true fans cheered as he represented us well. The doubters were silenced and nodded newfound approval and respect. And the trolls that like to bash him for his military service…well…they can Derelick my balls.

After years of fighting part-time in between Special Forces training and deployments, all while amassing an 11-2 record, Tim finally had the chance to fight fulltime as a member of the Texas National Guard. In his first outing he dominated a top ranked fighter that most experts believed would destroy him.

I gotta tell you…it was kind of awesome.

Please reach out to Tim in the comments section here, on his facebook page, or write him at tim@rangerup.com. He’d love to hear from you.

Anyone who’s spent a minute with Tim Kennedy in person or reading his latently sadistic workouts here on the Rhino Den knows what ludicrously good shape he’s in. We all secretly hate him for this, but since he’s a professional athlete, we guess that’s being fit is a good thing. Muscle and Fitness magazine, the premiere health and fitness mag in the world, took notice of Tim’s…abnormal…workouts and wrote a feature on him. This eight page layout shows Tim teaching killer techniques that every guy can use and provides ample eye candy for he ladies, so check it out.

Read the full story here

Ranger Up started sponsoring MMA fighters in 2006, but only the ones with military service under their belts. Since then we’ve sponsored over 40 guys and still maintain a steadfast policy that only veterans and active duty get our money. Check it out.

Read the full story here

So my boy, Jamie Yager, gets to fight Josh Bryant. Was I hoping he’d avenge my loss? Hell yes, but at the same time, I’m still in the tournament and want that victory for myself. Since I’d already fought Josh I tried to prepare Jamie and tell him that Josh was there for the long haul. Josh has the gas tank of a semi-trailer, so I wanted Jamie to concentrate on winning the rounds. Jamie looked good in the first round, but then he seemed almost lost and resorted to what he knows best – kickboxing. The problem with that strategy is he gets overextended. Josh was content to sit at home and wait for Jamie to get tired and make a mistake. Josh will eat a punch to take a punch and by doing that, he dragged Jamie into the deep water until he couldn’t handle it anymore. It wasn’t just that Jamie got tired, but he was taking licks too. Those punches pull down your energy bar quick.

When it looked like Jamie couldn’t get off the stool for the third round, Saul Soliz grabbed me and said, “get his ass up out of the stool.” They didn’t show it, but they knew we were tight and wanted me to motivate him. I told Jamie that whatever decision he made he’d have to live with. He said his neck was hurt, but I think he was also physically tired. I can tell you that I didn’t want to fight a third round against Josh either, but I got up and took my beating instead of quitting. I wish he would have gotten up, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s time to reap what you sow.

Tito kept calling Yager a pussy (that word got thrown around a lot in this episode) and there really wasn’t anything I could say because Tito’s our coach, so I kept my mouth shut. What’s worse is I knew Jamie was going to get an earful from all the guys in the house that didn’t like him. Nick Ring, Hammortree, Kacey…everyone as going to give it to him and it started right away. Even while Jamie was being taken to the hospital the guys were bad mouthing him on the van ride back to the house. It was crazy, but of course, the drama wasn’t over yet.

The next day we learned that we were losing our coach, Tito Ortiz. I had mixed feelings about that. We had a week left and I wanted him to stay, but I was focused too. It didn’t really mater to me who my coach was, but at the same time I had been training with Tito for five weeks so it shook me up a little. It sucks, but what can you do? That decision was made WAY above my pay grade. When I look back on it, it might have been a good thing. Team Punishment was arguing among each other so much that maybe it was a good thing because we needed someone else to get us in order for the final week. Tito came to the house to say goodbye and you could see he was upset, so it all worked out.

Rich Franklin was named as our new coach and I have to tell you, he’s pretty cool. He’s a BIG 185-pounder, man. We rolled that evening and I learned a lot from him. He also earned a lot of respect by not dogging Tito out. That went a long way with us.

So I found out I’m fighting Josh Bryant again. Sweet! The Savage wants REVENGE! Be sure to tune in next week for that.

I’ll let you in on a secret – the producers left out a few cool things. They’re not showing what was going on in the house at this time at all. See, no one washes the dishes in the house and they pile up almost every day. So we had this game like a skeet shoot where people threw the dishes in the air and we threw rocks at them. It was fun as hell. Also Brad Tavares stole a 45-pound plate from the gym and we played water rugby with it in the pool. Good times.