Islamabad: Retired UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov was offloaded from a Frontier Airlines flight at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas in the US.
The former Russian champion was reportedly involved in a seating dispute.
The flight’s security staff was called in and later Khabib was escorted off the plane.
Footage of the incident was widely shared online.
UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov removed from Frontier Flight amid seating dispute pic.twitter.com/UrIExWSaEU
— WE News English (@WENewsEnglish) January 13, 2025
Nurmagomedov was unbeaten (29-0) in his UFC career and is considered by many to be one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
Nurmagomedov’s Clarification
The UFC lightweight titleholder later took to social media to clarify how the saga unfolded.
In a post on X on Monday, the UFC legend clarified that the incident occurred on a Frontier Airlines flight and questioned if he had been the victim of racial discrimination.
The dispute centred on 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”.
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
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.
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“What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I’m not sure,” he added.
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.”