With a calm demeanor and a cerebral approach to the game, Carlos Condit (Pictures) is one of the few fighters in mixed martial arts who brings the threat of danger regardless of where the match goes.

Stand with him and he’ll punish you with strikes, including flying knees that spring up from the floor. Hit the mat and his long limbs ensnare you in a numbing mix of stifling submissions and slick transitions. It’s that kind of flair for the unexpected that has made Condit the World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champ, and at just 24 years old, he may still be a few years away from his peak.

This Sunday, “The Natural Born Killer” looks to make the third defense of his belt against Hiromitsu Miura (Pictures), who lost a tough decision to Jason Miller (Pictures) before stopping Blas Avena (Pictures). A former middleweight, Miura dropped to 170 to take on Avena and looked impressive.

“I believe he will be pretty aggressive,” Condit said. “I know he’s got very good striking. He’s very powerful, got good hands. He’s also tough as nails. I’ve fought Japanese guys before -- they’re just resilient. They don’t quit. I know I’m gonna have to take it to him.”

The bout, which will be televised on Versus, headlines the kind of WEC show that has helped make Condit one of the sport’s brightest stars and a hometown hero in his native Albuquerque.

After turning pro at 18, Condit came up on the small-show circuit, a nomad of sorts, fighting for nine different promotions in his first 14 bouts and going 12-2 in the process.

After four fights in Hawaii’s Rumble on the Rock promotion, his name emerged on the radar screen of hardcore fans, as he stopped Renato Verissimo (Pictures), lost a close decision to Jake Shields (Pictures) and submitted Frank Trigg (Pictures).

After losing by submission to veteran Pat Healy (Pictures), Condit has been perfect. He has knocked out or submitted seven straight opponents, including a title-winning submission over John Alessio (Pictures) and impressive defenses against Brock Larson (Pictures) and Carlo Prater (Pictures), the latter a rematch in which he avenged a submission loss in 2004.

The defense against Prater last February in Albuquerque was particularly satisfying, despite the added burdens of throwing down on a televised main event in his backyard.

“Prior to the fight, training for it, I put a lot of pressure on myself. Prater was a guy that’d beat me before. It was kind of a head game for me,” Condit said. “I had to get past the stuff going on in my head, and once I got in there, I was ready to fight. It was go time. Albuquerque showed me tons of love, and I was very proud to rep myself and my town.”

The Condit bandwagon gained considerable momentum after his stoppage of Larson in August 2007. Larson was 20-1 going into the bout, having dropped a decision to top UFC contender Jon Fitch (Pictures), and was seen by some as perhaps too powerful for the lanky but technical champ. An 8-5 betting underdog at the sportsbook, Condit nonetheless performed brilliantly after being taken down. He slapped on a slam-bang armbar for the submission in just 2:21.

Prepping out of the Fit NHB gym, Condit and trainer/manager Tom Vaughan say they are building a team of fighters at the facility that they hope, one day, will be regarded in the same light as Albuquerque’s better-known facility -- Jackson’s Submission Fighting, which includes several top UFC contenders.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of other guys you’re going to hear about. Greg Jackson started with a couple people. He didn’t inherit this whole thing. He built it,” said Vaughan, who added he plans to follow a similar ground-up model. “The perception is that, from a guy who builds fighters, I can tell you, it’s getting the right (guys) but also the right clay to mold.”

If that’s the right way to do it, Condit was, and is, a pretty good fighter to start with to attract other talent to the camp. At 6-foot-1, he attacks with a kind of fearlessness usually possessed by a fighter unafraid to be put on his back -- and his grappling game is good enough that he can threaten submissions even if he’s staring up at the lights with the other guy trying to pound away.

Now, as WEC champ, there are additional responsibilities and pressures. Yet Condit takes them in stride, as well as relishing the opportunities being champion brings, such as a trip to Afghanistan in June to visit the troops. And, of course, get a couple of workouts in while passing along some fight tips to the soldiers.

“We were in for six days and nights and stayed a day or two in Kuwait,” he said. “We were in the bases in Afghanistan and in Kuwait. It’s a totally different world. Very foreign, something that most Westerners just would trip out on. But you know, as far as the base, it was varying levels of sophistication, some of the bases just kind of barely getting by. Guys are just roughing it.”

With the spoils comes the price of being a target. The guy with the belt. It’s a natural part of the fight game that the hunter becomes the hunted, and for Condit, a few fights removed from being an up-and-comer, the real test of a champion.

When he started fighting, it was much different. These days, he can still steal away in the scenic hills and mountains of Albuquerque for a bit of fishing, spend time with his fiancé and his dogs. But in the web-driven, fast-changing nature of fan opinion in MMA, you’re only as good as your last fight, and he seems to know this. That’s why the easy demeanor is replaced with a scowl and an all-in attack once the fight starts. He’s worked too hard to let it be squandered away without a battle.

“It varied who I was fighting and what was on the line. At first it was a little bit nerve-wracking. I didn’t know what to expect. I had a ton of fun with it. I kind of had nothing to lose. I wasn’t making a whole lot of money. Nobody knew who I was,” he recalled of his early career. “It was just fun going out there, just being able to throw, not being able to worry about anything else, media, reputation. Just fighting. Lately it’s been a little bit different. I’ve been getting a little nervous. I’ve been excited for this one; I think I got past that nervousness. As far as the mental preparation, I’ve been having fun with it and just getting back to doing it, because I like it.”