Russian mixed martial arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov says that he was removed from a flight in the United States following a seating dispute with airline staff at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
In a post on X on Monday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend clarified that the incident occurred on a Frontier Airlines flight and questioned if he had been the victim of racial discrimination.
Footage of the incident was widely shared online, with initial reports saying it took place on an Alaskan Airlines flight.
The dispute centred around whether Nurmagomedov, who was sitting in the plane’s exit row, was prepared, or able, to help other passengers in the event of an emergency.
The 36-year-old UFC champion, writing on X, said a flight attendant who spoke to him “was very rude from the very beginning”.
And even though he speaks “very decent English and can understand everything and agreed to assist, she still insists on removing me from my seat”, he said.
“What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I’m not sure,” he added.
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
He did not say when the incident happened, and Frontier Airlines has yet to comment.
In the video of the dispute, recorded by another passenger, a flight attendant is heard telling Nurmagomedov, “We cannot allow you to sit in the exit row… I am not going to do this back and forth. I’ll go call a supervisor. You can either take a different seat or we can go ahead and escort you off the plane.”
The retired UFC fighter responded to the flight attendant by saying, “It’s not fair.”
He is also heard to say that he had fully complied with the flight crew during the onboarding process, and added: “When I was in check-in, they asked me, do I know English… and I say yes. Then why you guys do this?”
The flight attendant’s manager, not satisfied with the response from Nurmamegedov, was heard on the video repeatedly offering him another seat on the plane, as well as the option to take another flight.
Nurmagomedov said the attendant called security after two minutes of conversation and that he was “deplaned” from the aircraft.
“After 1.5 hour [sic], I boarded another airline… and left [for] my destination,” he wrote on X.
It is believed that Nurmagomedov was flying to California to support his teammates ahead of the UFC 311 event on January 18 in Los Angeles, Nevada in the US.
Nurmagomedov, a Muslim, was unbeaten (29-0) in his UFC career and is considered by many to be one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
