Former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was escorted off a flight out of Las Vegas in an apparent dispute with airline staff.
The 36-year-old, a former lightweight champion who is most famous for beating Conor McGregor in 2018, was led off the plane after refusing to move seat.
In a clip that has gone viral, Nurmagomedov is seen sitting in the exit row. But staff from Frontier Airlines were apparently ‘uncomfortable’ and wanted to move him elsewhere for the flight, which was reportedly headed to Los Angeles.
The Russian protested against the ‘unfair’ decision, insisting he ‘knows the language’ and ‘how to help people.’
After Nurmagomedov continued to fight his case – ‘it’s not fair… I’d like to sit here’ – the former UFC star was given an ultimatum.
He refused to move and was soon led away from his seat – despite the Russian explaining that he had been cleared to sit in the exit row by staff at the airport.
‘We’re either going to have you switch your seat, because my flight attendants are not allowing you to sit in the exit row. Or you’re going to have to get off this plane and then we’ll rebook you,’ he was told.
The airline staff member insisted the issue was not about his grasp of English. But when pressed on why they wanted him to move, she simply said: ‘They’re not comfortable with you sitting in the emergency exit row’
‘When I was at the check-in, they asked me: do I know everything? I said yes,’ he is heard saying.
‘I understand that but it’s also (based) off of their judgement,’ the airline staff member responded. ‘I’m not going to do this back and forth.
‘I will call a supervisor, you can either take a different seat or we can go ahead and escort you off the plane.’
A few moments later, Nurmagomedov climbed out of his seat and walked down the aisle while someone grabbed luggage out of the overhead lockers.
He later provided a lengthier comment on social media about the incident.
‘First of all, I need to clarify that it was @FlyFrontier not AlaskaAir,’ Nurmagomedov said on x. ‘Lady who comes to me with questions was very rude from the very beginning, even though I speak very decent English and can understand everything and agreed to assist, she still insists on removing me from my seat.’
‘What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I’m not sure. But after 2 minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft, after 1,5 hour I boarded another airline one and left to my destination. I did my best to stay calm and respectful as you can see on the video. But those crew members could do better next time and just be nice with clients.’
‘The Eagle’ won all 29 of his UFC fights, culminating in victory over Justin Gaethje in 2020. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2022.
