Resident MMA guru, Momo is back with her predictions for UFC 124. Check out who she thinks will be victorious. It’ll be a great night of fights.

Hello fellow hardbodies! It’s that time again. Just in case you have been under a rock and have not heard, the UFC (the biggest cage fighting tournament in the world) and WEC have recently joined forces. It will be interesting to see how UFC plans to showcase all of these fights…We just had season 12 of the Ultimate FIghter on Spike… Team GSP vs. Team Koschek. This season was pretty entertaining with all the pranks, fights and trash talking. The  finale was last week on live tv and Jonathan Brooks took the spot of The Ultimate Fighter winner. Now the coaches square off tonight in Montreal Canada, home of GSP.

UFC 124 Predictions
STRUVE vs. MCCORKLE: I’m going with stefan “skyscraper” struve. He s like 6 ft 7 ? crazy tall and hasn’t really impressed me with his mma skills but somehow manages to win! He reminds me of a childhood book I used to read called The BFG—meaning The Big Friendly Giant

MILLLER vs OLIVEIR: I’m going with Oliveira in this fight. He is very young, under 20 i think. He has great motivation and just the other day he was unable to buy his girlfriend a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato! Now he can afford a few. Very technical.

STEVENSON vs DANZIG: I’m goin with Danzig, a former Ultimate fighter champ. He is very weird guy who likes birds and is sponsored by vega – a vegan supplement company. Stevenson very strong guy, but past his prime, nobody likes him and has some good guillotines.

ALVES vs HOWARD: I’ll pick Alves on this fight. He has alota heart. We have 2 great stand up fighters, Howard is very strong with alota knockout power. Alves recently was out of comission for a bit and in the hospital when a cat scan revealed an irregularity involving an artery in his brain. He thought he would never fight again! He has a new outlook on life and maybe another win under his belt.

GSP VS KOSCHEK: Well most of the world, like me will be goin with GSP this fight. Koschek is a cocky, arrogant but has alota skills. You either love him or hate him. On the other hand you have a soft spoken, humble guy and some say the best welterweight athelete of the UFC. GSP already beat koschek before, the only difference it was a few yrs ago and some people say GSP is past his primetime. Koschek is very hungry. It will be a very interesting fight but I believe Gsp  is motivated to beat him after so many pranks and trash talking on TUF ( the ultimate fighter show)

Happy Holidays
MOMO
2010 world champ no gi

IFBB Bikini Pro / Fitness Model / Mixed Martial Artist Monique Minton breaks down UFC 121. The card is stacked from top to bottom with some amazing fights. Will she be correct in her picks? Who do you like in the weekend’s event?

Hello everyone! Now that the Bikini Olympia has passed, I’m very focused with my MMA training, I have a very good coach with a great game plan. I plan to compete in a tournament this December, so check back to see how I do.

I’m back with predictions for UFC 121 being held in Anaheim, CA this weekend. This is a great card, with alot hype for the main event. SPIKE TV has even dedicated this month as “Brocktober”! You can be sure I will be watching these fights with my team mates this Saturday! oss!

UFC Fight Card 121

Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez – What can I say… Brock is a beast! He’s better than ever and looks to be fully recovered from a serious illness months ago. He looks like the main character on beauty and the beast , but bigger! Cain is a guy who has a lot of talent though. Very good wrestling and standup, but he’s missing size and power. How can you push a steel wall? I’m going with Brock on this one.

Jake Shields vs Martin Kampmann -Former stikeforce fighter, Shields has good wrestling, submissions and strength. His stand-up, in my opinion, is so so. Martin has really good jiu-jitsu and good standup. Martin seems to always get paired with tuff guys though. I will go with Jake Shields on this one with ground and pound.

Diego Sanchez vs Paulo Thiago – Diego is an Ultimate Fighter alum and former student under Saulo Riebeiro. He has recently switched camps/coaches. During his last fight we didn’t see the same Diego as in the past. Paulo Thiago is a very tough guy physically and mentally. He is part of BOPe, a special Brazilian police force that go into the Favelas (ghetto) to kill the drug lords. They fight to kill or die. There is great movie called Elite squad , Part 2 is out in theaters now but in Brazil only. It shows the dangerous missions they go through on a day to day basis. For this fight I’m going with Paulo, he lost his last fight against Martin Kampmann but I think he has gone back to the drawing board and revised his mission.

Tito Ortiz vs Matt Hamil – I will pick Matt Hamil for this fight. I hope that nasty staff infection has healed that he revealed in the octogon on his last fight! Tito has had alot of attention in the past months, being married to former pornstar Jenna jameson. He was accused of battery and we shall see if he was able to focus and train for his first fight after the incedent. I’m not a huge fan of Ortiz.

Brendan Schaub vs Gabriel Gonzaga – Gabriel “napao” meaning big nose in Portuguese… He’s a world champion in bjj and has some high kicks the problem is he likes to party a lot but who doesn’t? lol. Brendan Schaub was former professional football player for Utah Blaze. He was also a finalist on Ultimate fighter. I’m going with Gonzaga with this fight because he has more fighting expierence. I call TKO on this fight!

Let’s see if Momo is correct come fight night. In the mean time you can check her out in the current issue of UFC magazine.

Dean’s a little late to the game this card but he’s challenging Momo once again. Who will prevail?

DEAN’S BREAKDOWN

Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez
- Lesnar, second round stoppage. I think Cain might have the skillz but doesn’t have the size and Cain has a solid jaw so the ref is going to have to stop this one.

Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann
- Kampmann, Shields will prob rock him a few times but I’m saying Kampman will put a stop to Shields 14 win streak.

Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago
- Sanchez, I am going out on a limb here but I will go with Sanchez Decision.

Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill
- Hamill, Last fight I saw Tito in it didn’t look like he recovered fully from his injury. Another decision.

Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
- Gonzaga, Knock out end of Second round.

IFBB Bikini Pro Monique Minton continues to collect belts but doesn’t bother taking names in her “other world”. Monique is an accomplished grappler who recently won yet another tournament. This time Momo headed to Ft. Worth, Texas where she competed in the expert division of Gi and No Gi (two forms of grappling). Don’t let the pretty face and bikini body fool ya, she’ll choke your ass out!

Monique shoring off her newest hardware.

Monique Minton is back after her trip to the Arnold Sports Festival.

Hello Guys,

Earlier this month was awesome! I was the Arnold expo and got to see many great things.  I feel like we women are growing a lot and gaining more space in our industry. One of the highlights of the show was when Arnold himself called Slyvester Stallone to give him a award. I thought it was so cool because tqo of the biggest butt kickers of all times (at least in the movies) were on the same stage. It brought reminded me of why I love the UFC so much!

On Saturday Night we had the WEC fights. The WEC is a kind of a smaller league of the UFC and they have the lighter weight fights.  There were a bunch of surprises, new champions and old champions got destroyed for the second time (Miguel Torres) it was a really interesting night!  Now this next two weeks will be awesome… first because I will be completing in California for the first time as an IFBB Pro and second ’cause there will be two UFC events. The first one is this Sunday, March 21, and it’s a FREE UFC show on the Versus channel. Lots of great fights on this one.  Brandon Vera will be fighting this guy who is so scary. He’s so scary good that I wouldn’t even want to fight him. lol.  If things go the way people say it will… Vera will get a huge cut in his face and his new nick name will be Brandon “Frankenstein”Vera!

On March 27th in New Jersey there will be a card full of famous fighters, I can’t wait to comment on them as well.  Especially how Dan Hardy is gonna get embarrassed for not training appropriately.  Here is a tip for you readers… it’s not a good idea to train with family member when you are fighting against GSP, unless you are a nephew of Mr. Miagi. Concluding this week on Spike tv lots of interesting UFC show that show how fighters are getting ready for their fights, it is good to remember that some of these guys are training for the fight of their lives.  If they lose they not only lose money but also their contracts and a chance to fight in the biggest MMA league in the world.

As a fan of fitness and a fan of MMA all I can say is that it is important to fight.  Life is like a big octagon where you find yourself.  You know you could have done more to get better prepared, but there is no time to cry or complain the idea is to go there and fight with all you have, never give up and in the end know that you are successful for never doubting yourself. Get the mission accomplished… winning or losing doesn’t really matter because the objective was to go beyond your limits.

<3momo

Hey guys,

Last weekend was awesome! Great fights and the UFC is getting better every day. The event in Australia was a great success they sold out all their tickets in the first day and the UFC is the most watch pay per view event.  If you’ve never watched it before, the next UFC event is in Broomfield Colorado and will be awesome plus it’s FREE.  This event will be shown on the VERSUS channel March 21, 2010 at 9p.m. ET.  The card will is very exciting and one of my favorite fighters, Pilipino Brandon Vera will be fighting Jon Jones, in my opinion Brandon Vera beat Couture on their last fight but they gave it to Couture. But this Jones guy is so tough his last fight he ran over a wrestling guy (in the octagon) and beat him up so bad that if I was the guy I would just go back to school.  Besides that fight they will have my close friend Junior “cigano” dos santos fighting Napao, great fight. Two Brazilian warriors fighting to show their country who is the king hahahha.  Sheik Congo will be fighting paul buttelo, also James Irving, Clay Guida and many others so  it will be good.

Now going back to what happened last week on the UFC 110 Nogueira vc Velasquez.
Cain knocked out my friend Nogueira, I was very said, but I admired Cain complements to Nogueira after the fight and the fact that he was a extra humble guy.

Silva won by unanimus decision over Bisping – I was very happy cause I don’t like Bisping because he is too full of himself so I was very happy. hahah

George Sotiropulos beat Joe Daddy Steverson – I thought he was gonna lose based on his last name.  I guess the lesson is never judge a book by its cover.

Cro Cop beat Perosh – By brutal man handling force! I felt sorry for perosh but give him 10 for the efford!

Krysztof TKO Bonnar – I guess people from my mom’s country are tough no wonder my mom beat us up hard. hahahha

Chis leg lock Foster – To show that Brazilian jiu-jitsu is still very effective

CB Dollaway beat Rejic – Good fight but cb need to work out more upper buddy, he looks like a 15 year old boy!

Momo recaps UFC 109 in amusing fashion.

UFC 109
Las Vegas, USA – Saturday, January 6, 2010

Main card:
- Randy Couture defeated Mark Coleman by submission at R2;
- Chael Sonnen defeated Nate Marquardt by unanimous decision;
- Paulo Thiago defeated Mike Swick by submission at R2;
- Demian Maia defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision;
- Matt Serra defeated Frank Trigg by KO at R1;

Preliminary fights:
- Mac Danzig defeated Justin Buchholz by unanimous decision;
- Melvin Guillard defeated Ronys Torres by unanimous decision;
- Robert Emerson defeated Phillipe Nover by unanimous decision;
- Phil Davis defeated Brian Stann by unanimous decision;
- Chris Tuchscherer defeated Tim Hague by split decision;
- Joey Beltran defeated Rolles Gracie by KO at R2.

We saw Frank Trigg getting his butt whopped by Matt Serra and after getting TKO (technical knocked out) he looked very surprised! Haha, if I was there I would say, “you lost brother!” Nate surprised everyone getting taken down at will by a Republican Politician (Chael Sonnen). Chael showed, that just like Bush he used preventative striking and attacked Nate the whole fight. I was kind of sad ’cause Nate is much better looking and that he had no bottom game. Nate what happened? My boy Paulo Thiago made me really proud, first cause I made some money betting on him, second cause he showed that punching is cool but making a guy pass out is even cooler, I guess Mike “Quick” Swick is not so slick! And with the last fight of the night, I was far-fetched with my pick Mark “the Hammer” Coleman, the problem was he forgot to fight and came as if he was going for a picnic.

As of my picks challenger all I have to tell him is that takes some chances sometimes! Deano, its on for ufc 110

But all eyes now are on UFC 110 with my friend and teacher Antonio ”Minotauro” Nogueira, I get nervous thinking about that fight. Cain Velasquez, his opponent, is a young tough fighter. The event is going to take place in the land down under (Australia) land of “wolwerine” Hugh Jackman and Crocodile Dundee. All the tickets were sold out on the first day, so it will be a huge event! Lots of great fights but I will tell more about them when the time comes. Check back with Hardbody.com for more info on MMA news, gossip, interviews and predictions with MOMO

If you want a good laugh for today, check this you-tube video out
Its very funny and prolly the typical fighter wanna-be’s you may see around your city!

Dean bested Momo in their prediction battle for UFC 109. Despite only getting 28 percent of the votes in today’s Hardbody prediction poll Dean proved the voters wrong. He went 7-2 while Momo went 5-4. Momo went out on a limb with a few fights and it ended up costing her the win. Despite Dean’s smack talk and presently inflated ego, my money is on Momo to choke him out should the two ever get in the ring. Check back in a couple weeks to see if Dean can keep his streak alive as they make their predictions once again for UFC 110.

Momo gets quote of the night when she said, “Paulo Thiago hands down! The guy fights criminals in the favelas in Brazil, while Mike Swick eats cheeseburgers at Dave and Busters”. Thiago choked out Swick for the win.

Visit MMAmania.com for the full results.

Our resident MMA gir,l Momo has submitted her UFC 109 predictions. She’s going out on a limb the main fight and has some hilarious comments on the others. Dean Donlon, the man in charge up the contest section at Bodybuilding.com, thinks he has the winning picks.  It’s a UFC prediction throw down… MOMO vs DEAN. Dean’s already talking smack, “Bring it on MOMO!” Who will fair better? You can catch UFC 109 tonight on Pay Per View. Check back tomorrow to see how Momo and Dean did.

POLL CLOSED – Hardbody Voters call it…
Momo – 72%
Dean – 28%

Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman
Momo: I’m gonna call Mark Coleman because he is the underdog and like on Rocky 3 the underdog always wins.
Dean: Couture! Straight up! He is a little over a year older but physically he has a few years of youth on Coleman. Coleman is an old man and has lost his power over the years and that is all he ever had. Couture will finish him in the late second round by submission (choke)

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
Momo: Nate Marquardt, I trained with him…he is tough. Cheal is a crying baby… Paulo Filho put him in an arm-bar, he tapped and said he didn’t.
Dean: Marquardt, Nate is physically stronger and more well rounded, watching Nate fight is always a pleasure and he trains to win. If you have ever seen footage of Nate training you would not even consider Sonnen. Nothing against Sonnen but he is just not at the skill level of Nate the Great. Marquardt – 1st round KO (hopefully a flying Knee)

Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago
Momo: Paulo Thiago hands down! The guy fights criminals in the favelas in Brazil, while Mike Swick eats cheeseburgers at Dave and Busters… and only fought posers.
Dean: Hard to say but I’m not a fan of Swick, I think Thiago will finally put an end to Swicks un-entertaining fights. I give Swick props, he has some big name wins under his belt but that will end with Thiago. Just as most of Swicks fight I see this going the distance. Thiago – split decision.

Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller
Momo: Demain Maia on this fight, as long as he uses Brazilian Jiu-jit-su. I bet he is gonna get a rear naked choke or guillotine.
Dean: Should be a great grappling match, if either one comes out swing they will lose, there is not much stand up game in this fight.With that said it will be a great fight for real MMA fans who appreciate a well matched fight. Maia in my opinion just has the upper hand in BJJ and will win this fight. Maia – 1st round submission.

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg
Momo: They both look older than Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, but ill pick Matt Serra on this fight, because Frank Trigg was already done 2002.
Dean: LOL – will be a good fight but I’m not a fan of either. Both will come into this fight well conditioned and I say it will start with a slugfest. After both take too many punches in the head Trigg will shoot and from there Serra will utilize the fact that he has far better BJJ skills and finish the fight. Serra – late first or mid second round submission

Mac Danzig vs. Justin Bucholz
Momo: One more time, they gave Mac the weirdo another dead chicken. If he doesn’t win this one, he should sign up for one of MTV’s reality shows! Mac for this fight.
Dean: Both are on losing streaks and honestly this fight is worthless. I’m going Danzig split decision

Ronys Torres vs. Melvin Guillard
Momo: I’m hope’n for Melvin, because I don’t wanna see him on celebrity rehab. Melvin.
Dean: Torres – better BJJ, Guillard’s only chance is a KO in the first minute. Torres – Submission Early second

Phillipe Nover vs. Robert Emerson
Momo: Phillipe, better jiu-jitsu
Dean: This could be a sort of comeback fight for Emerson, I think he will come in better prepared. Emerson – split decision

Brian Stann vs. Phil Davis
Momo: Brian because my dad was also in the U.S. military.
Dean: Phil Davis – Unanimous, dont think Stann will stop the streak of Davis Prediction: Davis by decision

Welcome our newest Hardbody contributor… IFBB Bikini Pro, top fitness model and MMA practitioner Monique “Momo” Minton.  Momo will be sharing some insight, tips and predictions on the world of MMA.

Hello Everyone!

I am Monique Minton, a MMA fanatic, lover and practitioner.  I train every day and that is where most of my cardio comes from. You burn crazy amounts of calories during grappling or sparring. I decided to venture into Brazilian Jiu-jit-su (BJJ) and muay thai because I wanted a different method of cardio, a more fun approach. I didn’t realize I would get addicted, find such passion for a sport and actually suceed in such a displined art. I love MMA because it is a nice way to exercise and also learn something very useful. As my coach says “fighting solves everything.” hahahaha just kidding.  But seriously, it is very good for women to learn self-defense.

Many women don’t know what MMA is or what it stands for. They tend to think it’s cage fighting and a blood sport where they put two people inside a cage to beat each other as much as they can. Those who judge the sport this way miss why MMA is the most fun, exciting and fastest growing sport in America.

The sport is so intriguing and so technical. What other sport can a 45 year old man like Randy “The Natural” Couture, fight with guys half his age (Brandon Vera) and still win? Luck?  No. Technique!  If I were you… this Saturday, get a group of friends together and visit a place where they are showing the UFC Fights. You’ll see some of the best athletes in the world compete and have fun in the process, at least I know I will.  Check back with my predictions and thoughts on the UFC 109 fights!

Ossssaa! <3 momo