Our good friends at MMA Weekly caught up with Lyoto ‘the Dragon’ Machida for a quick Q&A about his upcoming UFC 113 main event bout against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua this Saturday.
The Dragon, as always, was with his manager and translator Ed Soares, who relayed and answered the Portuguese speaking Machida’s answers for us.
MMA Weekly asked Machida what he thought Mauricio Rua would bring differently in the fight that he didn’t bring in their UFC104 fight. Machida’s responded that he’s not t worried about Rua, claiming only to worry about himself and his own training rather than that of his opponent. He did admit that Rua surprised him a little in the first fight but he won’t be surprised at UFC113. “I’m not concerned about what he’s going to do; I’m concerned about what I’m going to do.”
The UFC odds makers have Machida the -185 moneyline favorite over Rua who pays +155 for an upset win.
The interview continues with a question about what he can take away from the last fight and what he can do better in the UFC113 fight.  Machida answered through Soares that “every time you go out there you see mistakes that you made and that is one part of being a champion is that you constantly want to improve…we saw some mistakes that we made… we went back to the drawing board and improved on those things…”
This fight is one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history, unlike other so-called grudge matches, we have Lyoto Machida who is undefeated in the record but in the fans eyes, his win over Rua is a black spot.  These two genuinely don’t like each other and both feel they legitimately won the first fight.  Dana White always tells his fighters not to let it go to the judges to avoid any controversy.
When asked about the prospects of being able to keep this fight out of the judges hands Machida said “I believe that I can finish this fight…that is what I train for…I am prepared to go all five rounds…but my training is all about finishing this fight as quick as possible.”
If the first fight is any indication, Machida could have trouble finishing off Rua early but the Dragon has regrouped and improved his training, he's ready for this fight. “I improved this things I needed to improve on…I intend to find the focus on what my objective is for this fight.”
When asked what his objective is for his UFC 113 bout against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua is Machida answered simply “Knockout.”