UFC middleweight contender Alan Belcher hopes to prove his worth in the division once and for all by avenging a loss to a former title challenger Saturday evening.

Belcher first fought Yushin Okami at UC 62 in Aug. 2006, losing a pretty clear cut unanimous decision largely do to having few answers for “Thunder’s” takedowns.

However, this time around at UFC 155, “The Talent” told MMAWeekly Radio that he is a completely different fighter and his improved grappling skills will make all the difference in this rematch.

“I want it worse than him, I want this win worse than any fight ever,” Belcher said.

“If he can’t get me down, he’s going to be crapping his pants. Whenever I hit him, he’s going to realize when he looks in my eyes that I want it a lot more than he does, and he’s just going to be the best he can just fighting off his instincts, his heart’s not really going to be in it because he’s going to feel my heart and my ferocity. He will be scared.”

Since Sept. 2008, the 28-year-old is on a 6-1 run, with his sole loss being a debatable split decision loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100 in July 2009. More recently, he has won four in a row, making short work of the likes of Patrick Cote, Jason MacDonald and Rousimar Palhares.

Dating back to last summer, Okami had reached a low point in his career, suffering back-to-back knockout losses to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Tim Boetsch.

While there is no shame in being knocked out by Silva, the loss to Boetsch was particularly disappointing since the accomplished Japanese fighter easily dominated the first two rounds before getting caught with a series of hard uppercuts in the third and final round.

To his credit, Okami easily dispatched of Buddy Roberts, scoring a round 2 TKO, in his most recent Octagon appearance at UFC 150 this past August.

Will Okami vs. Belcher II be similar to their first meeting or will this be a completely different fight?