Gegard Mousasi has said a lot about Lyoto Machida since their first fight more than five years ago. If he loses again, though, not much more can be said.

At least that’s what Machida (26-8 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) believes. “The Dragon” has been targeted with greasing and performance-enhancing drug accusations from Mousasi (45-7 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) stemming from their February 2014 bout under the UFC banner, which Machida won by unanimous decision.

The rematch will finally take place at Bellator 228 this month, and Machida said going 2-0 in career fights against Mousasi should put everything to rest.

“Nothing that he says affects myself,” Mousasi told MMA Junkie. “We are going to fight again and it’s going to be a rematch and if I beat him for the second time he has no excuses. No excuses. I just want to be very focused on what I have to do. For this fight I know I’m 100 percent focused and I just want to do my job.”

Bellator 228 takes place Sept. 28 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Machida vs. Mousasi 2 co-headlines the main card, which streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

The idea of a Machida vs. Mousasi rematch has been on the table since both signed with Bellator. It was thought that it would eventually come together for a title, but Mousasi dropped the 185-pound belt to Rafael Lovato Jr. earlier this year to extinguish that possibility.

Machida thought he would be challenging Lovato Jr. after his TKO win over Chael Sonnen at Bellator 222 in June, but the champion was unavailable, and that’s when Bellator president Scott Coker called offering the rematch.

“I was thinking Lovato should be my next opponent, but I heard he was a little bit injured so he could not fight in September,” Machida said. “I like to get the rhythm of fighting, I don’t like to sit still waiting for my next fight. So that’s why as soon as Scott Coker offered me to fight Mousasi, I accepted right away.”

Machida largely handled Mousasi in their first encounter. He won 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46 on the scorecards, and the Brazilian said he remembers have commands over the fight at all times.

“I remember that the fight was tough,” Machida said. “We fought five rounds, we had some moments where we scrambled in that fight. I remember that I controlled the fight from the beginning to the end of the fight. I could hit him a couple times and I still believe I have the tools to beat Mousasi. Even though he’s a very tough opponent and a well rounded fighter, I believe in myself.”

Although a lot of time has passed since then and Machida is now 41 with more tread on his tires, he said he thinks he can upstage his previous performance. The goal is to fight for a Bellator title after Bellator 228, and he said the perfect set-up for that would be to make a statement against Mousasi.

“I believe I can knock him out and I can also control the fight at all times,” Machida said. “I still consider myself a very explosive fighter, so if I want to explode, I can. Mousasi is not an explosive fighter. He has the rhythm to fight little by little and increase over the fight. I won’t let him increase in the fight.”