Chico Santiago has been a members of our nation’s Navy for 23 including several tours in the middle east. On July of 2004 Chico got the terrible news his 4 year old son, Diego Santiago had a condition called Wilms tumor, a rare kidney cancer that primarily affects children. Also known as nephroblastoma, it’s the most common malignant tumor of the kidneys in children. The peak time of Wilms’ tumor occurrence is at age 3 and it occurs only rarely after age 8.

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.

Jeremiah Riggs is the son of an E-9, so it’s no wonder that he felt an obligation to serve his country growing up. His Pop served four years in the Coast Guard followed by 31 years in the National Guard with tours of Iraq in 1990 and 1991, and again in 2003 and 2004. Jeremiah served a tour with 1st Ranger Battalion that included a fun filled vacation to Afghanistan in 204 just as his old man was returning from Iraq. They gave each other a combat high-five in Germany. True story.

Before joining the Army, Jeremiah had a promising football career at Mississippi Delta College. Before you say, “Mississippi Delta? No pro football players come from podunk schools like that,” go look up a guy named Jerry Rice.

Jeremiah was destined to for MMA fame in the International Fight League until they went totally bankrupt, though he had nothing to do with it. After bouncing around between a few gyms, Jeremiah landed in the birthplace of his idol Abraham Lincoln to train with UFC legend Matt Hughes at his Illinois HIT squad facility.

If Jeremiah looks familiar it’s either because of his cameo appearance on the Jonas Brothers world tour as the piccolo player or because you saw him on VH-1’s show, Rock of Love. Jeremiah was given the name “Big Rig” by Daisy De La Hoya because she noticed he wore a size 14 shoe and figured bug feet…big personality. Or it oculd be because he once drove trucks back home in Mississippi. We’re not sure. On the show Riggs quickly made a name for himself with his southern charm and wild country boy antics. In an MMA fight arranged by the show’s producers Riggs defeated VH1 reality star “12 Pack” by gogoplata and massive cranial hemoraging. Just to pass the time, Jeremiah caught a skunk in the house and performed a song for Daisy wearing only a bass guitar. Dude has cajones.

Fun fact – In the summer of 2009 Riggs was selected for I Love Money 3 on VH1. Jeremiah was kicking ass on the show until a brown recluse spider gnawed on him and he had to withdraw from the competition. Not that the show would have been aired anyway since the winner of the show killed his wife and committed suicide. Sometimes losing can be a good thing.

Ranger Up is proud to sponsor former Ranger Batboy Jeremiah Riggs and his down home, skunk catchin’, noodle fishin’, ass kickin’, skoal can in the back pocket self.

GI Jobs magazine helps troops leaving active duty find employment. They’re good people with a good cause and know how to get Soldier’s attention – with MMA. So they placed Kris McCray on the cover and wrote a feature on some of the more prominent fighters Ranger Up sponsors.

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

Lee Stuckey saves more people before 9am than most people do all day. Okay, not really, but he did triage three civilians who were in a horrible car wreck earlier this year. Two of the car’s occupants were thrown out 50 feet while going over 70 mph. Lee was the first on the scene and being a responsible jarhead, he took care of them for over an hour until EMTs and Life Flight took the victims away. The way he puts it, “I almost put them in my car and evacuated them myself! I hadn’t even finished a half a cup of coffee yet.” That’s one reason we like him.

Another is his drive to develop MMA as therapy for PTSD. After a nasty encounter with an IED, he was stationed at Camp Lejeune’s Warrior Transition Center where he saw too many combat Marines slide down the slippery slope of depression and alcoholism. He rounded them up and got them into a gym where the intensity of the workouts helped them relax and sleep peacefully, a major accomplishment for those suffering from insomnia and nightmares.

Lee is also an unapologetic redneck and has pushed us to develop a line called just that – Unapologetically Redneck. We’re not crazy about it either.

Ranger Up is proud to sponsor a good ole boy from GREENBOW, ALABAMA…Marine Lieutenant Lee Stuckey. Oorah!

Tony Sills is a staunch Republican whether he knows it or not. He wishes Bush could have been President longer, hates Democrats and how they’re convinced of their own superiority, and the White House. He also hates racism of all kinds and doesn’t believe in slapping a kid’s hand when he steals a car.

Here’s the other reasons we like him:

You would think anyone named Maverick would be an egotistical hothead that says, “because I was inverted” a lot. Tony’s nickname is Maverick and not only does he hate Tom Cruise, but he doesn’t have mommy issues, either.

When he’s not teaching them how to fight, Tony’s hobbies are hunting and fishing with his kids. This week they’re hunting wabbits. Soon it will be politicians.

There’s a fine line between Blue Falcon and Platoon Clown. Tony once sabotaged a guy by putting women’s underthings and perfume in his locker before an inspection. We have to opt with Platoon Clown on that one.

Recently he was accepted as a Drill Sergeant candidate and vowed to crush any Platoon Clowns he comes across. So much for having a sense of humor.

Tony is in school for criminal justice and desires to be one of those cool CSI guys…as long as he can use his Magic 8 Ball as evidence.

Tony’s competed three tours of Iraq, but considers living in the Fort Hood area more dangerous than any place overseas.

Ranger Up is proud to sponsor Tony Sills in his quest to be the next MMA champion of Texas…and Antarctica. Ranger Up Sarge!

We sponsor MMA fighters. Lots of MMA fighters and the list keeps growing. But we don’t just put our stuff on anyone. To be a member of Team Rhino you have to have served in the Armed Forces of the United States honorably. It’s one of our ways to give back to the troops. If you’ve dedicated part of your life to your country and want to pursue your octagon dreams, we’ll help. Meet our team.

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Tim Kennedy

Service: Active National Guard

Pro Record: 12-2

Fun Fact: Tim is a really good shot. At an Army Sniper tournament he shot Oprah’s mustache off of her when she wandered onto the range.

Meet Tim here

Tim Kennedy’s website

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Tim Credeur

Service: Former Navy

Pro Record: 12-3

Fun Fact: Tim was the first BJJ black belt in the state of Louisiana. His standing as a voodoo high priest had nothing to do with it.

Meet Tim here

You can get the shirt he wore at Ultimate Fight Night 18 here

Tim’s ship, the USS Milius (DDG 69)

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Jeremiah Riggs

Service: Former Army Ranger

Pro Record: 4-5

Fun Fact: Jeremiah has terrible timing. He tried out for the International Fight League just before they went bankrupt and he was on a reality TV show that never aired due to a murder-suicide.

Meet Jeremiah here

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Chad Robichaux

Service: Former Marine

Pro Record: 8-0

Fun Fact: Chad still has to sneak into carnival rides because he doesn’t make the minimum height standards.

Meet Chad here

Team Rhino has started off 2010 in pugilistic style, notching six wins in six fights in January. As most of you know, Ranger Up only sponsors fighters with military backgrounds and we call these Crusaders of the Cage Team Rhino. It’s our way of giving back to the guys who defend our freedom and want to pursue their octagon dreams. This month we got behind six guys, all of whom showed their indomitable spirit and accomplished their Ranger mission in venues across the country.

Former Marine Brian Vanhoven kickedstarted this party with a win against a game Mike Cook, securing a TKO in the 2^nd round. Then Georgia National Guardsman Kenny Jackson submitted Matt Hughes disciple Liko Mahoe halfway through the first round at MMA Big Show. Super heavyweight and active Army Soldier Brandon Sayles continued the streak with a first round TKO win in Columbus, Georgia.

Sergeant Tony Sills’ victory was probably the most dominant. He successfully convinced his opponent that it wasn’t in his best interest to show up. He didn’t, so Sills won by default. Not to be outdone, former LRSD soldier Alex Soto only needed forty-five seconds to slap an armbar on his opponent and former Ranger Gert Kocani TKO’d Greg Jackson protégé Diego Brandao in the second round to cap off a perfect month for Team Rhino.

As a token of our appreciation, each Team Rhino fighter will receive a $10,000 bonus. Okay that’s bullshit. A bottle of Maker’s Mark, an inflatable woman, and a dozen Shamwow’s is as good as it gets. Congrats, guys!

John Walsh is a Marine whose been wrestling since the embryonic stage, but is afflicted with a severe allergy to striking, so his MMA career has been rockier than Tiger Woods’ new chain of driving academies. As a Marine infantryman, he’s an overachiever. He’s been a machine gunner, a stinger gunner, in Recon, FAST, and Security units, which seems like Hoo-Rah overkill and a perfect future serial killer profile. Naturally we thought we’d sponsor his MMA fights since he has clear mommy issues like the rest of us at RU. Ever see Blue Velvet? Here are some other reasons we like John:

John’s ops are so black, pictures of him won’t develop and digital photography seizes up.

The movie, “The Men Who Stare At Goats,” was based on John. Only he bludgeoned them to death when they didn’t die from his Jedi mind powers.

John has been deployed enough times that he qualifies for Iraqi citizenship.

John once wore a “Killed 100 Terrorists” badge at a local Boy Scout Den. No one challenged him on it.

John once spit in the wind, took the mask off the Lone Ranger, and tugged on Superman’s cape just to see if that song was true.

Walsh was once profiled on America’s Most Wanted, prompting the show’s host (ironically named John Walsh) to say, “Holy shit! Make sure I’m not related to that guy!”

John read that Lyoto Machida practices urine therapy for strength and immediately started drinking ram’s piss to one-up him.

His nickname was once “The Snowball” until he fought in a Ring of Fire event. You can guess what happened.

John has never seen Animal House. During basic training, he tried to coin the phrase, “Thank you sir. May I have another?” and thought everyone was laughing WITH him.

John grew up near a suppository factory and still has a phobia of submarines.

John drinks because liberals still exist.

John is the only jarhead whose lid actually comes off like a Rockem Sockem Robot.

John once stuck a finger in his belly button and his ass fell off.

John penned the book “Life’s Little Blueberry Cookbook.” When his fellow Marines discovered it, he wrote another called, “The ‘How to Make a Book Fit Inside a Colon Cookbook.”

John once successfully used the flying armbar submission to win a fight after seeing it on TV. Anderson Silva did the same with a flying elbow move.

Now that we’ve busted his balls, we’re proud to sponsor him. Hoorah, Sarge!

We would like to introduce Team Rhino, MTB.

Based out of Germany, these guys are the Ranger Up representatives for mainland Europe. Made up of active duty guys, Dustin Bell and his crew make up Team Rhino, a group of 7 competitive mountain bikers.

When you get a chance, check out their team’s official website to find results of their most recent races and also team photos.

Visit the Team Rhino website>>