PHILADELPHIA — At the end of his UFC 73 bout, Tito Ortiz stood in the middle of the cage where a victory, truly, slipped through his fingertips, and barked at Rashad Evans that he wanted to slug it out in a rematch.

“Since it’s a draw, Rashad,” said Ortiz, bleeding from a cut under his right eye, “We can do it again!”

Four years later, here comes Ortiz-Evans II.

In a city known for its fight sequels, an unlikely one is set for the UFC 133 main event. Only one month after he resurrected his career with a first-round submission victory over Ryan Bader, Ortiz walks into the octagon Saturday in Philadelphia eager to prove his revival is more the real deal than a one night only throwback performance.

Ortiz’s first victory in nearly five years lifted a career headed to UFC’s scrap heap back to one with purpose. Beat Evans at the Wells Fargo Center, and Ortiz becomes the No. 1 contender for the promotion’s light heavyweight championship.

All this for a fighter who made more ugly headlines the last few years for a lengthy losing streak, his bitter feud with UFC president Dana White and domestic issues with his girlfriend, former porn star Jenna Jameson.

He admitted he woke up the morning after the Bader fight in tears because of what the victory meant to him. He had little time to savor the win: White, who once said he was, “no longer in the Tito Ortiz business,” needed a big favor.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was scheduled to face Evans until he dropped out with an injured hand. Former Penn State wrestler Phil Davis was next on the list, but an undisclosed injury forced him out of the lucrative fight.

In a bind, White called on one heck of a pinch hitter.

Problem was, Ortiz wasn’t sure he wanted back in with only a month to prepare. Ortiz declined the offer, and White moved on to former champion Lyoto Machida of Brazil. White said Machida accepted the fight, then demanded more money.

By then, Ortiz (16-8-1) changed his mind and wanted the return bout. It was his.

It was a whirlwind time setting up the card, one White said showed how far he had come in patching up his differences with Ortiz, the self-proclaimed “Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”

“It’s crazy how fast this stuff happens,” White said. “Tito and I have no deal that says I wouldn’t cut him, but I have so much respect that he stepped up for this fight the way that he did. If I called the old Tito Ortiz and said, ‘Tito, listen, this guy fell out, want to take the fight?’ He would have said, ‘Yeah, let’s renegotiate the contract, give me a three-fight deal and I want a $1 million.’ I would have “hung up, and me and Tito would been in this big fight going on three months.”

Get your popcorn ready. This T.O. didn’t come to Philly to give his boss a headache.

He wants to pound one into Evans.

Evans (15-1-1), the top contender for the light heavyweight belt, hasn’t fought since beating Quinton Jackson by unanimous decision 14 months ago at UFC 114.

That lone ‘1’ in the far right column of his sparkling career record was his draw against Ortiz on July 7, 2007. Ortiz would have won the fight had he not grabbed the chain-link cage — his fingers scraped the octagon — and lost a point. Evans ended the fight with a flourish, slamming Ortiz to the ground before landing several hard blows to his head.

All three judges scored the three-round bout 28-28.

“It’s one of those fights you just want to get back,” Evans said. “Just young and inexperienced at that level. You know, I really didn’t get my mind wrapped around the situation until it was a little bit too late, but I’m a long ways from that right now.”

Evans quickly recovered from the draw. Three fights later, he defeated Forrest Griffin to win the UFC light heavyweight title, only to drop the belt in his next match against Machida. Evans has won two straight unanimous decisions to thrust himself back into the championship picture — even as he lost out on potential bouts over the last 14 months.

“I’ve been out of the cage so long, I’ve been having dreams about it,” Evans said. “I just want to get back in there and fight.”

Both fighters are pumped the pay-per-view card — Vitor Belfort takes on Yoshihiro Akiyama in the other showcase bout — is in Philadelphia. Of course, both men claimed an affection for Philly’s fictional heavyweight champion, Rocky Balboa, and they appreciated the opportunity to headline in a city with deep fighting roots. Philadelphia hasn’t held a card since UFC 101 in August 2009, and White promised last month the city would become a regular stop for the wildly popular sport.

Ortiz was once a regular atop the card and his name generated record PPV buys.

White believes Ortiz can still sell main events as much as he can win them.

“Tito can definitely move the needle,” he said. “I haven’t seen this many people liking Tito Ortiz since 2003 or 2004. People are definitely digging him right now.”