In 2016, NBA legend Michael Jordan accepted a playful challenge from fellow star Chris Paul at Jordan’s Flight School basketball camp. The prize? A dream come true for the kids in attendance. Paul laid out the rules: Jordan would take six shots—if he missed three, everyone in the camp would get a free pair of Air Jordans. Most people would assume the six-time NBA champion might ‘accidentally’ miss a few to make the kids’ day. But Jordan’s competitive mindset accommodated no one! 

At 53, Michael Jordan was still a cold-blooded assassin on the court. He drained every single shot—even with Chris Paul, then the Clippers’ floor general, trying to block one. The kids? They went home empty-handed. That moment came back into the spotlight recently when a Full Send MMA reporter brought it up after hearing about UFC middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis’ training camp bet ahead of UFC 319 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, headlined by du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev.

“Well, that’s hilarious because if you look at it like that, it’s 100% it,” Dricus du Plessis told the reporter after hearing Jordan’s story. Funnily enough, the Michael Jordan statue—officially named The Spirit—stands right at the United Center in Chicago, in the atrium outside Gate Four. Installed in 1994 after Jordan’s first retirement, it captures him mid-dunk, immortalizing his legacy. Dricus Du Plessis recalled seeing it for the first time and feeling an immediate spark of inspiration.

“It’s funny that you mention him, [at] the United Center, I was in there. I got goosebumps once again seeing the greatest [that] ever was, the greatest [that] ever will be,” the 31-year-old said. While ‘Stillknocks’ admits he doesn’t watch basketball, he has followed Jordan’s life through books and documentaries, drawn especially to how “[Jordan] demands excellence, even from his training partners. He would be giving them so much s–t… tell him to get off the court if they’re not playing to their abilities.”

It’s an attitude the first-ever South African UFC champ embraces in his own MMA career. “That’s what it takes — surround yourself with success to be successful. And everybody needs to chase that greatness. I love that,” he told Full Send MMA. Du Plessis will put that philosophy to the test next weekend, facing the toughest challenge of his career when he defends his UFC middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev — hoping all that hard work delivers when it matters most. 

And coming back to Jordan and the kids in the basketball camp, the story didn’t end with Jordan making all the shots. 

Chris Paul called out Michael Jordan for sending the kids home sad

After Jordan taught the children an important life lesson—you don’t always get what you want in life — Paul gave the children hope. This time around, Jordan was in charge of making the rules, and Paul had to make all the shots, and if he did, the kids would get the shoes. Unfortunately for the kids, Paul didn’t make all the shots, as he missed the final one. 

Years after that moment in 2020, Paul called out Jordan for his villainy. “We were in Santa Barbara, and he damn made them shots, and they just said to hell with the kids, man. So forget him, man. He [was] wrong for that,” Paul said about the moment. Despite this, Jordan continues to put together basketball camps for children. 

It appears Michael Jordan is as cold-blooded as he was in his days on the court, and Dricus du Plessis seems to appreciate that. However, whether this ‘no-mercy’ approach helps him defeat Chimaev is yet to be seen. What are your predictions for the fight? What did you think of Jordan’s tough life lesson?