MONTREAL – Prior to Saturday night's UFC 113 upset of former champion Lyoto Machida, most MMA observers felt Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (19-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) was at his best in 2005.
That was the year the Brazilian defeated Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson to claim PRIDE's middleweight grand prix title.
But the new UFC champion believes that despite sporting just a 3-2 record in the organization, he's never been in better form than he is right now.
"I'm very happy because in 2005 I was able to achieve a dream, which was to win the PRIDE grand prix," Rua told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) through his manager, Eduardo Alonso. "Now five years later, I achieved another dream, which was to become the UFC world champion. I'm a guy that has been able to achieve so many dreams in my career, and I still have so many dreams to achieve."
Rua's dream didn't come easy. While battling through a pair of knee surgeries, Rua was beaten by Forrest Griffin in September 2007, and a lackluster January 2009 win over Mark Coleman didn't exactly have people anointing "Shogun" the UFC champion-in-waiting.
For a dangerous fighter accustomed to success, the sub-par results proved unsettling. Nevertheless, Rua said he never doubted he would return to peak form.
"Injuries are the worst thing that can happen to a fighter's career," Rua said. "The worst times in my life were when I had the two knee surgeries about three years ago because that was very tough.
"People were criticizing a lot, but I took that as motivation because I work so hard that when I go through that type of criticism, I try to think that somebody has to pay the bill. Somebody has to pay for what I'm going through, so I try to do that in my fights and pay back when I'm fighting."
Rua definitely charged UFC Hall-of-Famer Chuck Liddell for some of that bill in an April 2009 destruction of the "Iceman." But when it came time to fight Machida in October 2009, Rua approached the fight with a cautious strategy.
Despite winning the contest on most MMA observers' scorecards, Rua was ultimately shortchanged by the judges after five tightly contested rounds. It was a lesson Rua took to heart for Saturday night's rematch.
"For my first fight, I trained and studied Lyoto Machida's game and tried to fight according to his style – in a safer way," Rua said. "For this fight, I knew him better, so I tried to exploit him and to take more risks and take more chances and go to try and finish the fight."
The 25 minutes he spent studying Machida proved invaluable for the rematch.
"My first fight against Machida, I tried to exploit the kicks a lot, and I noticed that every time he would try to attack on the timing of my kicks, he was attacking but without his guard in proper place – with his face exposed," Rua said. "That's why I worked a lot this time not only on the kicks, but also on the overhand right punch to surprise him when he was moving in from my kicks."
Rua said the precise gameplanning is a new facet to his approach and is a prime example of why is better now than during his astounding 2005 run.
"I think now I'm a different fighter than I was back then," Rua said. "I think now I train much more based on my opponent because I think this is the evolution of MMA nowadays."
UFC president Dana White, who ordered the immediate rematch after the pair's controversial first matchup, said Rua's win nearly defied description.
"To go out and knock out Lyoto Machida in the first round in the way that he did, I mean to say it's impressive is stupid," White said. "It's unbelievable. It's incredible.
"When [Rua] first came over into the UFC and I was talking about the ring rust – he had had the back-to-back knee surgeries – I always believed that once this kid got back in and was active, he had the possibility to do some great things again. Let me tell you what: 'Shogun' Rua is back. Not only is he the champion of the light heavyweight division, he is back."
Rua said he plans to take a few weeks off to rest, celebrate and spend some time traveling with his wife, but then it's back to the gym. And of course, as it is with any new champion, the question becomes, "What's next?"
Rua told MMAjunkie.com that he's open to a third fight Machida if need be, and he's just fine taking on Anderson Silva should "The Spider" make a run at 205 pounds. Rashad Evans? A rematch with Jackson? He's fine with it all.
"The only guy I wouldn't fight is Wanderlei Silva because he's a great friend of mine," Rua said. "Other than that, whoever the show wants me to fight, I'll fight.
"I'm a professional fighter, so I don't care."
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fighting someone who's having their first MMA fight. When the UFC first said they'd signed him, I thought it was a joke, especially after Herschel Walker's fight at Strikeforce. 
