UFC Hall of Fame Khabib Nurmagomedov was removed from a Frontier Airlines flight after a verbal disagreement with the crew over the weekend. Nurmagomedov and Frontier released conflicting statements about Nurmagomedov’s removal.
A 90-second video circulated on social media in the early hours of Sunday morning. The video shows a disagreement between Nurmagomedov and a flight attendant. Nurmagomedov was asked to change seats or leave the plane after being deemed unfit to sit in the exit row — a seat that requires communication with flight crew and passengers in case of an emergency.
“OK, so what we’re going to do is 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… because they’re not comfortable with you sitting in the exit row,” said the staff member.
“It’s not fair,” Nurmagomedov argued after some back and forth. “You guys, when I checked in, they asked me, do I know English? Yes, I said.”
“They said yes, I understand that, but it’s also off of their judgment,” the unseen individual replied. “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.”
Nurmagomedov voluntarily exited the plane and was booked for a subsequent flight. The former lightweight champion, who will corner reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 on Saturday, shared his side of the story in a later statement.
“[The] 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,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I’m not sure.
“But after two minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft, after [an hour and a half] I boarded another airline 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.”
Frontier Airlines defended its decision in a statement to MMA Fighting. The airline claimed the video posted online shows a fraction of a longer interaction between Nurmagomedov and the flight attendant.
“On Jan. 11, 2025, as flight 4401 from Las Vegas to San Francisco was preparing for departure, a flight attendant initiated the customary briefing for exit row passengers,” Frontier Airlines wrote. “Customer Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was seated in an exit row, was asked multiple times if he was willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency. According to the flight attendant, Mr. Nurmagomedov did not respond, despite repeated attempts, which placed him in non-compliance with FAA requirements. The flight attendant informed Mr. Nurmagomedov that he could be moved to a different upgraded seat or exit the plane.
“Videos circulating on social media platforms do not capture this interaction, and instead show a subsequent interaction after a gate agent entered the plane and reiterated the option to be reseated. As a result of the customer’s initial unresponsiveness and repeated declinations of a seat change, he was asked to deplane per airline and FAA policy. The decision to deplane the customer was in no way related to his ethnicity and we have refunded him and his traveling companions for their flights.”
More UFC news, rumors
- Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm is a free agent. Holm, 43, requested and was granted her release by the UFC, according to Yahoo Sports. Holm exits the mixed martial arts organization a month shy of the 10th anniversary of her UFC debut. According to her manager Lenny Fresquez, Holm is interested in exploring opportunities in MMA and boxing. Holm, a member of the Boxing International Hall of Fame, famously knocked out Ronda Rousey in 2015 to become women’s bantamweght champion. She leaves the UFC after losing to Kayla Harrison via submission in April 2024.
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