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• Unifying belts on mind of title holder
• Mixed Martial Arts: Duke City fighter Condit whips challenger in front of hometown crowd, retain WEC crown
• Cibola High graduate Condit will defend fighting title in home town

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Albuquerque's Carlos Condit holds one of the welterweight titles in the sport of mixed martial arts, but he says his goals have gone unchanged:

"Fighting anyone they put in front of me," Condit says, "my goals are to continue making a name for myself and to prove that New Mexico is a mecca for MMA."

On Sunday, the 23-year-old Condit will try to turn things around for his hometown and state, ending a streak of losses that began with Diego Sanchez's first defeat in April and continued with stoppages for Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor and Nate Marquardt the past three months.

Condit (20-4) will headline a World Extreme Cagefighting card on Sunday on the Versus network. He will defend his WEC welterweight title against No. 1 contender Brock Larson (21-1) of Brainerd, Minn.

The show starts at 7 p.m. from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.

It'll be Condit's first defense of the belt won in March, when he defeated veteran John Alessio (19-10) with a rear naked choke hold one second before the completion of the second round.

"Fighting as a champion, now, is a big motivation, actually," Condit says. "Being the guy to beat, and knowing that everyone is gunning for me keeps me training even harder."

Condit said this fight is important, "because I'm not a true champ until I make at least one successful title defense."

Condit's original first defense, also against Larson, was scheduled on a WEC card in June, but a shoulder injury forced him to pull out of the card.

"As injuries go, it wasn't too bad," says Condit. "I couldn't fight, but I stayed in good shape and didn't let myself sit around. I worked around it in the gym."

While Condit sat the card out, Larson chose to risk a fight, and his No. 1 status, rather than wait around for Condit. On that June card, Larson's gamble paid off when he turned some heads with a 27-second stoppage of Chicago's Kevin Knabjan (6-3-1).

Since then, Larson's been vocal about his plans to take the WEC welterweight belt back to the Midwest and dish out a punishing defeat to Condit.

"Talk is cheap," says Condit.

"I'm not paying too much attention to his smack talk. I know he's one of the toughest dudes I've fought, that he's physically strong, has great jujitsu and wrestling . . . I know he's coming for my belt, but I plan to make him uncomfortable.

"They say he's an animal - well, so am I. I'll take it to him on all fronts. I'm in the best shape of my life.

"Don't miss this one. I see `Fight of the Night' opportunity."

In other MMA news:

Albuquerque light heavyweight Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine (12-4-1) faces the toughest test of his career on Sept. 22 when he headlines the main event of Ultimate Fighting Championship 76 against former champion Chuck "Iceman" Liddell (20-4). Both Jardine and Liddell are coming off losses.

On the same card, Albuquerque welterweight Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (17-1) returns to the ring after his first pro loss, to take on Jon Fitch (18-2-1) of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Speaking of Sanchez, he has parted ways with trainer Greg Jackson and is relocating to California. Meanwhile, Sanchez's conqueror, Josh Koscheck (9-1), has a showdown set with former welterweight champion, Canadian Georges St. Pierre (13-2), who continues to fight out of the Duke City. That bout is set for Aug. 25 at UFC 74.