Square up with opponent, bring opponent down into shark-infested waters, and if opponent can't be submitted, try to smash his unfortunate carcass until either a referee's mercy is bestowed upon him or until he succumbs to unconsciousness. In other words: bombard the opponent so brutally that it would make even Genghis Kahn blush.

That is precisely the vehicle with which Paulo Filho (Pictures) commands en route to victory. And so far in his relatively young mixed martial arts career, that blueprint has yet to fail him.

He has spent the vast majority of his career over in Japan inflicting tidal waves of pain upon his opponents inside the PRIDE ring, and his vicious fighting style has earned him a reputation as being arguably one of the top five middleweights on the planet.

Filho, a classic harbinger of harrow if there ever was one in MMA, is finally set to make his ballyhooed US debut this Sunday, and the Brazilian expects nothing short of another emphatic victory to hammer onto his unblemished resume.

Filho has feasted upon his opposition like a crocodile let loose inside a petting zoo, racking up 14 impressive victories against zero defeats. Filho has scored his share of decision victories but it's his brilliant submission repertoire that has paved the way toward victory time and time again.

Filho calls himself a jiu jitsu fighter first and foremost, but he's not opposed to turning a nemesis' face into something that looks like the Brundle-Fly right before Gina Davis' character blew its head off.

To add some whipped cream topping to Filho's already delicious three-layer cake filled with bananas and strawberries, he's achieved virtually all of this inside the (un)friendly confines of a ring, the classic squared circle complete with ropes and turnbuckles.

How well will Filho perform once his bestial fighting prowess is unleashed inside an eight-sided cage considering his style is much more adept in a cage than a ring? Maybe the question should be how much more deadly will Filho be once he climbs into a cage?

"That is what I look forward to the most," an anxious Filho told Sherdog.com in an exclusive interview. "The cage suits me better than a ring and I think I've done well inside a ring. I am very eager to test my skills inside a cage for the first time. I like to bring my opponents down onto the ground and in a cage; there is not much room [to escape]."

Filho has long been associated with the PRIDE organization but he recently signed on with former PRIDE rival Zuffa. However, instead of testing out his talents in the vastly popular UFC octagon, Filho will have to settle for the smaller, lesser-known World Extreme Cagefighting cage. Filho's fight is the co-main event of the WEC card being held inside the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino this Sunday.

Making the jump from the biggest MMA organization in the world to a smaller -- yet crucial -- one and going from fighting in front of 40,000-plus fans to about 2,000 isn't actually as disappointing as many might think. It's also not as deflating as many might suggest to be fighting for the WEC rather than the UFC, either.

In fact, Filho is excited about fighting for the WEC for more reasons than one.

"I am not disappointed at all that I'm now in the WEC instead of the UFC," he said. "It's a smaller show, yes, but it is a very good show and my fight is for the middleweight title. Not many people know who I am in America and not many (people) know what the WEC is. We can grow together and I am confident that I will help make the WEC a very big, powerful organization.

When Filho does climb into the cage and step beyond the initial wall of chain link fence, his fight will be for the vacant 185-pound belt. His opponent will be former UFC veteran Joe Doerksen (Pictures); a man Filho knows just enough about to understand that he is no pushover. While Filho is the prohibitive favorite to win the contest and walk away with the gaudy gold-plated belt, the Brazilian understands that to take someone the caliber of Doerksen lightly would be foolhardy.

"Doerksen is a good fighter," he declared. "But I expect him to fight me like everybody else. I expect him to try to keep the fight on the feet to stay away from me on the ground. But that's okay; I know what my strengths are. I am not a boxer or a Muay Thai fighter. I am Brazilian so you know I am a jiu jitsu guy and if I can't submit you, I'll just pound on you on the ground. I am a ground fighter and I expect this fight to wind up on the ground. I expect to beat him and become champion of the world. That is something that means a lot to me."

Filho has been knocking on the door of fighting for the world title for quite some time now and as long as his US debut turns out to be as explosive as many expect it will, it'll be a matter of time before he's matched with the elite of the middleweight division.

The weight class is currently on lockdown by PRIDE 185 and 205-pound champion Dan Henderson (Pictures) as well as Filho teammate Anderson Silva, the 185-lb. king in the UFC. Also lurking in the deadly waters are former UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin (Pictures) and perennial scarecrow Matt Lindland (Pictures), as well as several other up-tier fighters. Denis Kang (Pictures), Nathan Marquardt (Pictures) and even Icon champ Robbie Lawler (Pictures) all pose viable challenges to Filho. But while he claims that he doesn't have one or more particular fighters on his radar, he knows that dream fights are just a matter of time before they materialize.

"I only want to focus on my opponent right now but I understand that there are so many great fighters in my weight division," he said. "I know I can't fight Anderson Silva right now because he is on my team. The only way I'll ever fight him is if there is some sort of special super belt on the line between two organizations. But those fights are down the road. My main focus right now is fighting for the WEC championship."

Keeping that focus leading up to contests might not have been an issue of concern for Filho in the past, and one can guarantee that while he was in the midst of fist-to-face combat in the PRIDE ring, he never had to worry about distractions or losing focus due to the fact that the Japanese fans are so eerily quiet.

In the States though, the live attendance is the antithesis of what Filho experienced in the Yokohama Arena, Saitama Super Arena or Ariake Coliseum. American fans, for the most part, demand non-stop action to the point that if poisonous darts aren't being thrown into the octagon by sniper ninjas while two UFC fighters rip each other to shreds like some vilified quarterback's nest of pit-bulls, profanity-laced jeers break decibel records and half-empty cups of flat beer are flung cage-ward by the dozen.

"That's okay, I am not worried about that," Filho chuckled. "I know the way I fight is pleasing to the crowd. When I step into the cage, my record goes out the window and I know I have to put on a show. My fights are exciting and I know how important it is to finish my opponents. I don't care who I fight once the bell rings because I have a job to do. I will do whatever it takes to win. I just want to destroy everything when I fight."