On February 21, 2009 Rubio earned the right to fight for the middleweight title by scoring a split decision victory over Enrique Ornelas to secure the World Boxing Council's # 1 ranking and a shot at the WBC Middleweight title on October 18, 2008 in Atlantic City on the Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins fight card televised portion.

[1] On February 21, 2009, Rubio fought for the unified WBC, WBO, Ring magazine, and lineal middleweight titles against Kelly Pavlik.

[2] After he was stopped in the ninth round by middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in February 2009, Rubio went on six-fight winning streak[3] On April 8, 2011 in the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Rubio was featured in the main event of Friday Night Fights.

[5] Rubio made easy work of journeyman Matt Vanda (44-14, 24 KO’s) on December 16, 2011 with a 5th-round TKO win at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[5] Rubio faced Mexican countryman Julio César Chávez Jr. in a scheduled 12-round middleweight bout, for the WBC version of the world title, on Feb. 4 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.