We love Ranger UP here at MiddleEasy.com. We even wrote a top ten list in their honor. Their president and general misfit Nick Palmasciano is our kind guy: nerdy, yet refined. The only difference is that he and his friends could kill you before you even knew they wanted to kill you. We would just write strongly worded letters with analogies of Marvel comics and Harry Potter if we didn’t like you.
So watch out.
That said, it’s a major bummer that long time sponsors of Tim Kennedy, Jorge Rivera and many more are officially out of the Zuffa fighter sponsorship game for now. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be compensating all of their fighters with the money they deserve, they believe in sponsoring people not products, very cool of them.
Our resident chef Tim Kennedy hopped on Bloody Elbow radio to discuss this matter and what he is going to do about it.
“I’ve been with Ranger Up for six years. They’ve been so loyal to me in every single way they possibly can supporting me as a sponsor. Even though I can’t be wearing them on my shorts, I won’t be wearing anybody. I’m going to reciprocate that. It’s going to be symbiotic.
“They’ve supported me and they’re going to continue to support me, so I’m going to be wearing blank fight shorts. I’ve going to be wearing a blank T-shirt.
“Zuffa is a great company and they are very business minded and they’re my bosses, so I can’t argue how or why they do things, I can just do what they tell me. So I won’t be wearing Ranger Up, but I’m definitely going to be supporting them in every way I can.”
If you ask me, Ranger UP single-handedly made UFC 127 an interesting PPV before the late edition of Brian Ebersole to the main card. Bisping/Rivera anyone? For that reason alone they should be reinstated as sponsors. That’s just one man’s easily entertained opinion though.
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