CHICAGO – Bellator newcomer Dillon Danis’ mask of confidence shows no signs of stress fractures.

The jiu-jitsu champ held court at today’s press conference for Bellator 198, which marks his debut as a professional MMA fighter.

Danis (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), a training partner of former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, nonchalantly reaffirmed a tweet earlier in which he said he’d own Bellator after one fight.

Via Twitter:

Bellator CEO Scott Coker tried not to take the young upstart too seriously.

“I love it all,” Coker said. “It’s all good.”

“We’ll be co-owners,” replied Danis. “It’s OK.”

Just three weeks ago, the 24-year-old Danis showed up at a New York jail to bail out McGregor after a bus rampage. He said it only served to focus his mind for the task at hand against fellow Bellator newcomer Kyle Walker.

“I just know what I have to do, so all the outside noise, it’s easier to find calmness in it,” Danis said. “So I feel 100 percent focused on this fight. I know what needs to be done, and nothing will change it.”

A lot of MMA observers will watch Danis just to see if his action lives up to his words, or maybe more accurately, whether he’ll eat the latter. Like it or not, his pro debut is a referendum on whether McGregor’s touch is truly golden. “The Notorious’” teammates haven’t exactly cleared out their respective divisions. But no one has talked as big as Dannis.

Like his famous mentor, Danis does a pretty good job of acting like he belongs in the company of greats. To him, finding success in MMA takes the same recipe as in jiu-jitsu.

“Work your ass off, and you get the results, so it’s the same thing in that sense,” he said. “But it’s just different in the media sense, but it’s just an adjustment. I want to adapt to every situation, so I’m just going with the flow and feeling everything out with my first time.

“When I was in the back, it felt like a funeral. Everybody was daunting, and I was like, ‘What the hell’s going on here?’ I feel great. I feel ready to go. I feel fresh, and I’m going to take this man out.”

Walker (2-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) comes into the bout at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., on a two-fight skid. It took a while for Bellator to find an opponent for the Paramout-televised fight on Saturday.

But Danis said time is no object when you’re as ready as he is.

“I’ve been doing martial arts since I was 15,” Danis said. “So I don’t see it as a couple of months thing – I see it as a lifetime thing. I’ve been a martial artist since I was a kid. It’s basically who I am. It’s not anything I need to prepare for, because I’ve been doing it my whole life. I’ve been fighting my whole life.”

On Saturday, the world will see whether that preparation pays off, and whether Danis’ future is as golden as McGregor’s.

For more on Bellator 198, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.