MONTREAL – Maurcio "Shogun" Rua (18-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC), along with a large portion of the MMA community, still believes he defeated Lyoto Machida (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in their October 2009 first meeting.

For 25 minutes, Rua appeared to have solved the riddle of the elusive Machida as "Shogun" battered his opponent with kicks to the legs and body and landed counterpunches on many of his foe's attacks.

The ringside judges saw things differently, though, and Machida retained his belt. With the two set to renew their battle at tonight's UFC 113 event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Rua said the first meeting only served to build his confidence.

"For every fight that I step in, I step in confident," Rua told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) through his manager, Eduardo Alonso. "This is the way I build my mindset."

The pair's first meeting was a technical affair, with each showing the value of the techniques in their arsenal. Of course, Rua's reputation as a frenzied mauler was built through years of utter destruction of opponents under the PRIDE banner. While Rua will undoubtedly be looking for the finish in the rematch, he admits a controlled attack is necessary for surviving against Machida's stunning counterattacks.

"I think that each fight is a different fight, so you have to prepare accordingly for the fighter that you're going to fight," Rua said. "As I've always said in my past interviews, Lyoto Machida is a very different kind of fighter. He's a very elusive fighter, a very smart fighter.

"You cannot approach a fight with [Machida] the same way you approach a fight against another guy. You have to prepare yourself to his style, to train differently, to do everything differently."

Rua will have the benefit of 25 minutes of experience in the cage with Machida. "The Dragon's" karate style has proved a difficult approach to deal with in several of Machida's past contests, and Rua now has more time against the champ than any other opponent.

But Rua doesn't necessarily believe that will prove an edge in the contest because he thinks Machida will have undoubtedly discovered the finer point's of his game, too.

"Actually, I approach this fight thinking that we are tied because I learned some things about his game, and he learned some things about my game," Rua said.

While Friday's weigh-ins saw Machida booed as he took the scales – and Rua shown support on par with the volume level given to the the card's hometown fighters – "Shogun" said there is no added emotion for this bout. If he was wronged, it was by the judges, not Machida.

Instead, Rua says he's approaching the bout like he did the first one, and he's once again confident that he'll wrangle the belt away from Machida.

"A lot of people have been saying in order to be the champion, you have to beat the champion, but I don't really believe in that," Rua said. "There's no difference regarding this fight or any of my other fights.

"I trained very hard, and I know that this is going to be a battle because he is a great fighter. Regardless, I'm always confident and ready for whatever happens."