Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC Champion and Russian mixed martial arts fighter, said he was deplaned from a Frontier Airlines flight in the United States over a seat dispute with the airline staff at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday clarified that it was not AlaskaAir but Frontier Airlines and questioned if he had been the victim of racial discrimination.
"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," Khabib described the incident in an X post.
Video of the incident has gone viral on social sites, where many netizens claim it took place on an Alaska Airlines flight. The viral video sparked debate about whether Khabib, 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 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.
"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," he added.
Replying to his post, Frontier Airlines commented that, "We are aware of the incident and are investigating." In a viral video it can be heard a flight attendant saying Khabib, “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.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov Deplaned From Frontier Airlines Flight
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 do you guys do this?” The flight attendant’s manager, not satisfied with the response from Khabib, was heard on the video repeatedly offering him another seat on the plane, as well as the option to take another flight.
"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," he added further.