Western Sydney's Tai Tuivasa has been elevated to 12th spot in the UFC's heavyweight rankings, and will fight on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 225 in Chicago, which will see Aussie Rob Whittaker defend his middleweight title against Yoel Romero.

In just his third UFC bout, Tuivasa is taking on former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and is appearing on his second PPV card.

With an absolutely stacked night of fights, fellow Australian Megan Anderson will headline the Fox Prelims opposite former bantamweight champion Holly Holm.

The bout will be Anderson's long-awaited UFC debut.

MORE: How Jake Matthews' move to welterweight helped him re-energise his career

The UFC confirmed the order of the card this week, with former professional wrestler CM Punk opening the PPV against Mike Jackson.

It will be Punk's second Octagon outing after he was submitted in quick fashion by Mickey Gall at UFC 202 in 2016.

The co-main event sees former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos take on mouthy American Colby Covington, while Alistair Overeem's fight with Curtis Blaydes is the third fight down. Overeem hasn't fought since his scary knockout loss to Francis Ngannou last December. Blaydes is coming off a three-round decision win over Mark Hunt at UFC 221 in Perth.

Tuivasa, who has finished both his UFC bouts so far inside one round, is the fourth fight from the top.

The 25-year-old has been training in Thailand for the fight, and was elevated to 12th when the UFC's heavyweight rankings were released this week.

Arlovski won the interim heavyweight title with a win over Tim Sylvia in 2005, and was later promoted to undisputed champion. He went on to lose the title to Sylvia in 2006, also losing a third bout between the pair.

After losing five in a row between 2016 and 2017, Arlovski is on a two-fight win streak with victories over Junior Albini and Stefan Struve.

Anderson last fought for Invicta in January 2017 and was slated to make her UFC debut last year before personal reasons ruled her out. The 28-year-old claimed the interim Invicta featherweight title and was later promoted to full champion before signing with the UFC.

The bout will be Holm's first since dropping a unanimous decision to UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg in December.

Holm is 1-4 in her last five fights, with her solitary win over Bethe Correia last year, but will go down in history for claiming one of the biggest upsets ever when she knocked out Ronda Rousey.

UFC 225 will take place on June 9, which is June 10 in Australia. It will air on Main Event.

Here is the full fight card:

Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero - middleweight title fight

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Colby Covington - interim welterweight title fight

Alistair Overeem vs. Curtis Blaydes

Andrei Arlovski vs. Tai Tuivasa

CM Punk vs. Mike Jackson

Prelims

Holly Holm vs. Megan Anderson

Ricardo Lamas vs. Mirsad Bektic

Claudia Gadelha vs. Carla Esparza

Clay Guida vs. Bobby Green

Rashad Evans vs. Anthony Smith

Joseph Benavidez vs. Sergio Pettis

Mike Santiago vs. Dan Ige

Rashad Coulter vs. Chris De La Rocha