In one of the more surprising results from UFC 155, Constantinos Philippou declared his arrival as a contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division with a third-round technical knockout of the surging Tim Boetsch on the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of the Las Vegas, Nevada, event.

With the win over the highly ranked Boetsch, "Costa" believes he is now deserving of a place among the Top 10 fighters in the world at 185-pounds.

"I don't really know [where I stand in the division]," Philippou told media members at the UFC 155 post-fight press conference. "But I should be a top-10 right now, at least."

Philippou and Boetsch exchanged leather, takedowns and ground-and-pound over the course of their riveting affair.

It was at the midway point of the third round when Philippou capitalized on a dazed Boetsch by getting on top of "The Barbarian" and firing away with punches until referee Kim Winslow had no choice other than to stop the fight.

The 33-year-old Serra-Longo Fight Team product is now, to steal a quote from UFC President Dana White, "in the mix" with top middleweight contenders such as Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort, Chris Weidman and Yushin Okami.

The Cyprus-born fighter has not earned a title shot yet, but with five consecutive Octagon victories he is on the cusp of claiming No. 1 contender status in 2013 if he continues on his current successful path.

After by far the biggest victory of his 21-fight mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Philippou doesn't care who he competes against next -- he is more than happy to leave that decision up the UFC matchmakers.

"Whoever they decide that I have to fight I'm more than willing to fight."