Why Michael Jordan once called Valentino Rossi ‘nuts’ after meeting him for the first time

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Valentino Rossi has been likened to basketball icon Michael Jordan. Both are considered all-time greats in their respective fields.

Close friend Fonsi Nieto described Rossi as the ‘Michael Jordan of motorcycles’ in an interview earlier this year. He warned Liberty Media, the sport’s new owners, that they couldn’t bank on his stardom to grow the sport.

And more recently, VR46’s Uccio Salucci said Rossi has a similar intellect to Jordan, as well as football megastar Cristiano Ronaldo. The former Chicago Bulls player retired in 2003, nearly two decades before Rossi walked away from MotoGP.

Jordan won six NBA championships during the 1990s, as well as five Most Valuable Player awards. Rossi, meanwhile, is the most decorated rider of the modern era with seven premier-class titles.

Michael Jordan was ‘super pumped’ to meet Valentino Rossi

Jordan met Rossi for the first time at the 2004 Valencia Grand Prix. The American, a keen motorcycle enthusiast, completed four laps of the circuit on a two-seater.

Rossi, who was born in 1979, idolised Jordan when he was growing up, as well as a number of legendary figures across football and motorsport. It was, therefore, a surreal experience to find him waiting in his motorhome.

But the admiration was certainly mutual, with Jordan ‘pumped’ to meet the rider who had won the last four world championships. Rossi, who had joined Yamaha at the start of the year, defeated Sete Gibernau, who was riding for former team Honda.

Speaking to the Poretcast YouTube channel earlier this year, he said: “My idols when I was young in the 90s were [ex-Inter striker] Ronaldo – he was always someone who really moved me – then there were a lot of Formula 1 drivers like Senna, Mansell, Prost. I really liked Formula 1, I followed it.

“In motorbikes, there were the American riders like Schwantz, Rainey. And then Jordan, the best in the world, Maradona. I’m attached to these figures because I was the right age [to appreciate them].

“It was nice, because I arrived at my motorhome in Valencia and a friend of mine said to me, ‘Look, there’s Jordan’. I knew he was there, but I didn’t expect him to be inside my motorhome.

“There was Jordan, leaning against the kitchen so that he could fit. His head was touching it!

“He was excited, a lot of people like motorcycles. They’re all super pumped when they see me.”

What Michael Jordan said about Valentino Rossi after first encounter

Jordan also took the passenger seat as Rossi lapped the track in a BMW road car. Visibly breathless afterwards, he said, ‘Man, this guy is nuts’ as onlookers applauded.

He also joked that he’d ‘never’ climb into a car with Rossi again. The Italian went on to win the race that weekend ahead of Max Biaggi and Troy Bayliss.

Rossi inspired a unique degree of hero worship and transcended MotoGP. Marc Marquez is the only rider who’s come close to his level of fame in the 21st century.

Indeed, incoming World Superbikes champion Toprak Razgatlioglu is ‘sad’ he won’t get to race against Rossi next year. The Doctor remains active in motorsport, but has switched to four wheels.