Du Dang flew to Anaheim, California on Wednesday with a reputation as one of the fastest up-and-comers in professional video games. Sunday night, he touched down back in Tampa as officially the best in the world.

Dang, 20, who competes under the gamer name NuckleDu, outplayed 32 of the top-ranked Street Fighter V players in the world to win the Capcom Cup on Sunday, claiming the richest purse in the history of fighting games: $230,000. The tournament finals aired live on ESPN 2.

Dang, who grew up in Tampa and attended Wiregrass High School in Wesley Chapel, held his face in his hands and appeared to be fighting back tears after defeating fellow American Ricki Ortiz in the grand finals on Sunday.

He becomes the first American to win a Capcom Cup since the international tournament began in 2013, and the first American to win the premiere world championship in a Street Fighter game since 2002. International competition in Street Fighter has been dominated by players from Japan for decades.

A day after his win, Dang woke around 1 p.m. at his home and began going through the hundreds of unread messages that had flooded his inbox. The Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco, a known Street Fighter fan, had tweeted at him to jokingly ask to borrow $2,000, and refer to Dang as "my favorite nephew."

"This is what I wanted, to win the biggest tournament in the world. I'm not the poorest person, but I'm not the richest either, so money was a factor," Dang said by phone. "I do plan on buying my first car, an SUV big enough to put my dogs in there. I might move closer to the airport. ... Besides that, I'll probably just invest. I'm going to take care of my mom, my family."

Dang has won eight major tournaments in 2016. In 2015, he became the first Street Fighter player to join Team Liquid, the team of elite pro-gamers that made headlines this year when it sold a stake to investors that gave the team a likely valuation of more than $10 million.

Earlier this year Dang told the Times that he'd passed on the opportunity to live rent-free in the team's "gaming house" to continue living in Pasco County.