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Original Description
UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis joins Nicole Briscoe on SportsCenter to recap his great first pitch at the Chicago Cubs game and preview his middleweight main event fight at #UFC319 vs. Khamzat Chimaev.
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Video Transcript
the sports center. 50 states in 50 days,
Illinois, the home state of our very own
Nicole Brisco live at top Murphy's
bleachers. I was born in Chicago. So, I
really appreciate the venue there. Uh
Nicole, who has a special guest standing
by, a UFC middleweight champ, a Draus
Dupy, maybe he can give you some advice
for throwing out that first pitch later.
Well, yes, he can give me some advice.
First of all, I mean, you know what it's
like. You were born here. We basically
dialed up the perfect day in Chicago.
There's very little humidity. I'm not
even sure we can call it a cloud in the
sky. The Cubs take on the Reds this
afternoon around 1:20 here local time.
Uh but you've been living here DDP for
the last what week?
Yeah, maybe two weeks. Almost two weeks.
Yeah.
He's got a fight coming up which we'll
talk about that in a second. But more
importantly, you threw out the first
pitch last night and the environment was
amazing. But you'd never thrown a
baseball before. What was that like for
you?
Yeah, I've never thrown a baseball
before. I've thrown a ball before. I I
play cricket back in South Africa. Uh I
like sports, but it was actually quite I
didn't I wasn't nervous at all until I
got to the plate and it's a lot further
than you would think. But
yeah, I mean it uh when the moment comes
to shine, you have to, I guess. You
know, there's a lot of people watching,
but it was a lot of fun.
What advice were you given before you
did it?
Uh don't bounce the ball cuz the people
will boo you and don't try to throw it
too hard. And I said, well, those two
are completely opposite. Don't throw it
too hard. Try to throw it too hard. and
don't bounce it. So, just throw it
perfectly. That's the best advice I got.
Throw it perfectly.
We have the video of your pitch. It was
down the middle. It was a damn strike.
It was great. How do you think you did?
Yeah, the Well, it went straight. Uh,
how good I did comparing, I don't know,
but I know it was straight and that and
it didn't bounce, so that was good.
And you did it from the mound. They gave
you that option. They were like on the
mound or in front of it. And you were
like, "No, I have to do it on the mound.
I'm going to fail. I'm going to do it
trying to look good."
Where's the ball now? Uh the ball right
now is uh already packed in my bag. I
already got a little case for it. It's
going in the trophy room 100%.
I asked him, I go, "Do they let you keep
the ball?" And he was like, "I don't
know if they actually do, but I did."
Like, so that sucker is getting
squirreled away from me as well. So
don't bounce it. Don't try to throw it
too hard. I um I mean, I grew up a fan
of the Cubs, so to be able to throw out
the first pitch today is it's it's
nerve-wracking for me on a different
level. And that's honestly my fear. I'm
afraid that I'm just going to like all
nerves and just sail it up into like,
you know, where Boo Shambi is going to
be calling the game or something like
that. Where first of all, do I do I have
to do it from the bump? I think so.
I think so. I think so. Because
then, you know, if things go south,
at least say, "Okay,
well, I was on I was on."
Oh, you did it properly.
If you stand in front of it and you
things go south, that's bad.
Then I have no excuses.
Go for it. Go. And don't think about
failure is not an option. You're good.
you're going to get it.
It is not because this will be a pitch
that
And for the record, I have never been I
have no team that I root for in baseball
because this I don't know the sport.
It's my first live game, but I am now a
Cubs fan for sure.
It's hard. That's the thing. It's hard
to come here to take in a game and to be
in this environment and not just fall in
love because it's not it's honestly it's
not just about the team. It's like I
said earlier, it's the team. It's the
environment. It's the neighborhood. It's
the way it smells. It's family. It's
friends. It's it's all of that.
Yeah, it wasn't.
You've been you've basically been living
in the city of Chicago for the last like
week or so. You've got a big fight
coming up defend your belt at UFC 319 uh
in what, a week and a half. How's camp
been going for you?
Camp was great. Uh you know, camp is
around 12 weeks. We had an incredible
camp. Uh flew in 3 weeks out from the
fight uh to get uh you know, acclimated
to the weather, the time zones. It's a
7-hour time difference between South
Africa and Chicago. And uh it took me
about 3 or 4 days to get used to it. And
now I'm feeling absolutely great. You
know, it's an amazing city. A lot better
than I expected. I have to be honest. A
big city like this where I'm from and
and you know, we don't have cities like
this. This is massive. This is the most
city I've ever seen. And uh it's
incredible. It's clean. A lot cleaner
than you know, when you go to big
cities, you're not sure what to expect
sometimes.
It is amazing. The people are
incredible. Uh people have been so
welcoming. It's it's been amazing. Well,
good luck with your fight. Uh, look at
the size of his hands, by the way.
That's that's a little disarming. Uh,
you can see that fight on ESPN in
pay-per-view. Nice little cross
promotion there. Uh, and I'll see you
more later this hour. Hannah,
wait, Nicole, I have a question for you.
So, you have not practiced? You did? Not
even in the backyard. Like, you have you
haven't practiced at all?
No. No.
Okay.
No. Hannah, I uh I was on a family
vacation last week with my entire
family. I practiced every single day
with my dad, my husband, and my brother.
I brought the glove here as well. Like
no, like here. And the second I get a
chance, we're gonna practice again.
[Applause]
[Music]