After lobbying to be on the UFC card in his native North Carolina, Derek Brunson’s wish was granted by the promotion when they granted him headliner status on this weekend’s UFC on FOX card in Charlotte against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

The two previously fought more than five years ago in Strikeforce where Souza caught Brunson within the first minute of their fight and scored a knockout victory, handing Brunson his second career loss.

The circumstances are different this time around, with Souza coming off a loss to current champion Robert Whittaker and Brunson having won two straight with victories over Dan Kelly and Lyoto Machida.

Whittaker recently had to withdraw from UFC 221 with an injury, leaving Yoel Romero to step in to face Luke Rockhold for the interim title. Brunson feels like a title shot could be on the horizon with a win over Souza.

“I’m fighting Jacare and he’s ranked third, so if I go out here and have a dominant performance over him, finish him in the first round, I think I can jump to that three spot and be looking at the next title shot, especially with Whittaker being injured. He could be out for a while,” Brunson told The TSN MMA Show.

With Brunson’s last six wins all coming in the first round, he’s certainly the type of exciting fighter the UFC looks to promote.

While a win over Souza likely would not vault him to an immediate title shot with fighters like Chris Weidman and Kelvin Gastelum in the mix, it would certainly elevate him into the top five and put him in place for a top contender fight.

The division has been in flux for some time with Michael Bisping waiting more than a year between title defences to take on the returning Georges St-Pierre, which caused stagnation in the ranks.

Now, with Whittaker injured and UFC president Dana White president outlining to TSN that he is suffering from a bad staph infection, it’s uncertain what the timetable for his return could be.

“Yeah, it doesn’t sound good, so he’s probably going to need a little bit of time to recover. I hope he’s able to fight soon, but just in case he isn’t, I’m kind of preparing myself for that moment,” Brunson said.

Since joining the UFC, Souza has long been considered a top contender at middleweight and could have earned a title shot if not for a close split-decision loss at the hands of Romero at the end of 2015.