A video of former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov being removed from a plane has surfaced.
The MMA legend was escorted off a flight out of Las Vegas in an apparent dispute with airline staff.
Staff at the airline were ‘uncomfortable’ and wanted to move him elsewhere for the flight, but he refused their request and was escorted from the plane.
He was told: ‘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.’
Nurmagomedov then made his case to the flight attendant.
He said: ‘When I was at the check-in, they asked me: do I know everything? I said yes.’
🚨Khabib gets REMOVED from airplane
CONTEXT: Khabib was seated near a emergency exit row, was asked if he could assist during an emergency, after not initially understanding the question the flight attendant asked him to leave, thinking he doesn’t understand English
(Khabib is… pic.twitter.com/DMkjwg6Obf
— Kenny Okoye🇳🇬 (@TruthfulUfcFan) January 12, 2025
But the staff member was adamant that he must change seats.
They replied: ‘I understand that but it’s also (based) off of their judgement, 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.’
Khabib has now posted on X giving his side of the story.
On the platform he wrote: ‘First of all, I need to clarify that it was @FlyFrontier not AlaskaAir.
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 respecttul as you can see on the video.
But those crew members could do better next time and just be nice with clients.’
First of all, I need to clarify that it was @FlyFrontier not AlaskaAir.
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…— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) January 12, 2025
Current UFC star Michael Chandler agreed with Khabib and posted, ‘Can you imagine, an emergency happens on your plane and you would prefer a “perfect” speaking human instead of one of the greatest athletes of all time because you’re “uncomfortable” with his ability to speak English(which is very good, btw) – this is bizarre. Not only was he the most physically capable human being on the plane but I’m pretty sure the ONLY qualification to sitting in the exit row is being able to say the word “yes.” @TeamKhabib.’
Can you imagine, an emergency happens on your plane and you would prefer a “perfect” speaking human instead of one of the greatest athletes of all time because you’re “uncomfortable” with his ability to speak English(which is very good, btw) – this is bizarre. Not only was he the…
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) January 13, 2025
Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the very few fighters to retire undefeated from MMA having left the sport with a record of 29-0.