The resurgent Vladimir Matyushenko, 40, will be meeting with rising contender Alexander Gustafsson, 24, at the PPV event.

UFC 133 takes place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 6th, and the winner could likely find themselves in the upper echelon of the division with title implications in there foreseeable future.

After an embarrassing first-round drubbing at the hands of current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones last August, Vladimir retooled and came back on a mission. The one-time title challenger returned to action just three months later at UFC 122 and took on Jiu-Jitsu ace Alexandre Ferreira in Germany. “The Janitor” mopped the floor with his Brazilian counterpart and scored a first-round TKO with less than three-minutes of action clocked in.

Next, Matyushenko was pitted against wrestling standout Jason Brilz, who was coming off of an exciting match with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Vladimir’s unofficial rival) which earned both men “Fight of the Night” honors, despite Brilz getting the short end of the controversial split-decision. The Brilz-Matyushenko bout was seen as a early snoozer by most hardcore fans as there styles would usually indicate that the two would indulge in a 15-minute grappling match. Instead, Vladimir knocked out Jason in just 20-seconds at UFC 129 last month.

Now, Vladimir will be looking to build on his two-fight win streak inside the octagon when he takes on 205-pound spitfire, Gustafsson. “The Mauler” has properly lived up to his moniker by having finished all of his opponents inside of two rounds–with the exception of two. One fighter went to a decision, while the other Phil Davis currently holds a submission win over Swedish fighter, though the two have since become fast friends and training partners over at Alliance MMA in Chula Vista, California.

Currently, Alexander is riding a two-fight win streak inside the octagon, and in his last outing met with Aussie James Te-Huna at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia. After Te-Huna surprised Gustafsson with an early takedown and submission attempts, Alexander flipped the script by eventually securing James’ back and sinking in the rear-naked choke inside of the first-round, forcing the tapout at the 4:27 mark. The win helped build upon a previous submission victory over PRIDE veteran Cyrille Diabate just four-months earlier.

Now, the two men are on a collision course to meet at the upcoming UFC 133 pay-per-view event, with the winner moving one step closer to title contention in an always stacked 205-pound division.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the match-up? Who do you favor? Sound off in the comment section below.

Davis debuted in the Octagon with a grueling beat-down of former WEC light heavyweight champion “All American” Brian Stann (8-3) leading to a unanimous decision at UFC 109 in Las Vegas February 6.

Gustafsson debuted in the Octagon with a 41-second TKO of Jared Hamman (9-2) at UFC 105 in Manchester November 14.

As speculated Monday, the UFC welterweight contender matchup between American “Quick” Mike Swick (14-2) and Brit “Outlaw” Dan Hardy (22-6) was officially announced for Manchester.

The co-main event pits Brit “Count” Michael Bisping (17-2), returning from a highlight reel knockout loss to “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (25-7) at UFC 100 in Las Vegas in July, across the Octagon from Canadian Denis Kang (34-11-1).

The rest of the card includes:

Matt Brown (10-7) v “Lightning” James Wilks (4-2)
“Real Deal” Ross Pearson (14-5-1) v Aaron Riley (28-11-1)
Terry Etim (13-2) v Shannon Gugerty (12-3)
“Relentless” Paul Taylor (10-5-1) v. “Hitman” John Hathaway (10-0)
“Slick” Nick Osipczak (5-0) v Matthew Riddle (3-0)
Alexander Gustafsson (7-0) v Jared Hamman (2-1)
Andre Winner (10-3-1) v “Crazy Cuban” Rolando Delgado (6-4-1)