After his triumphant debut against Marcus Brimage, Irish ultimate fight champion Conor McGregor told ESPN “Without a doubt, I’m the champ.”

McGregor defeated Brimage in the UFC Featherweight in 67 seconds. Speaking after his win ESPN reports that McGregor said, “Without a doubt, I’m the champ. I feel like I’m strong in my mind, but I’m still growing and learning.” McGregor puts much confidence in visualisation. Before the fight on Saturday he said, “The belt is already around my waist.”

McGregor did not place a great deal of importance on his debut win since he sees the victory as a platform for greater things to come.

President Dana White plans to see McGregor in Boston in August, but he did not announce who will be McGregor’s opponent. McGregor is not worried. He has said, “Each [fight] gets easier. People talk about the UFC jitters and all that, but it felt no different . . . I feel like I can handle the nerves.”

McGregor’s first Knockout of the Night award on Saturday earned him $60,000. He initially said he was unsure of how he was going to spend the money. He has since decided to make a living on fights. He said, “It’s only the beginning for me- I’m not stopping, I’m going to take over. “ He added, “All week I felt like the star and I felt like I stole the show.”

Speaking about his future plans he said, “I’m going to steal all the money from the UFC and hightail it back to Ireland with a big bag of money.”

Born in Ireland, McGregor began his professional career in mixed martial arts in March of 2008 in Dublin. Over two and a half years McGregor accumulated four wins and two losses and starting in 2011 he had an eight win streak, which boosted his European ranking. The following year McGregor won both the Cage Warriors FC Lightweight Champion and the Cage Warriors FC Featherweight Champion. In 2013 the UFC announced they had signed McGregor to a multi-fight contract. He is the second Irishman to fight for the company. The first was Tom Egan.