Former Russian UFC champion Khabib Nurmgomedov is opening up about being removed from a flight in the United States following a seat dispute with airline staff. He clarified what was seen in a video that went viral over the weekend.
While initial reports indicated the mixed martial artist was on an Alaska Airlines flight, Nurmgomedov said that he was flying with Frontier Airlines.
Nurmgomedov indicated the worker who confronted him while he sat in the exit row was "very rude from the very beginning", even though he speaks very decent English and can understand everything and agreed to assist, she insists on removing him from his seat.
In the video of the incident, which reportedly took place in Las Vegas on January 11, shows an employee telling Nurmgomedov he either has to switch seats or get off the plane.
"They're not comfortable with you sitting in the exit row," the worker added. "It's not fair," said Nurmgomedov, who was reportedly flying to Los Angeles, to which the worker replied, "It is fair. Yes, it is."
Nurmgomedov explained that when he was checking in for the flight, he was asked he if knew English, to which he said he did. The airline worker responded, "I understand that, but it's also off of their judgement. I'm not going to do this back-and-forth. I will call a supervisor."
The employee reiterated the athlete could either take a different seat on the plane, or staff could "go ahead and escort" him off the flight. She asked "which one are we doing?" and then replied to Nurmgomedov saying they were going to have to rebook him on a different flight.
Nurmagomedov added he wasn't sure of the worker's motive in the situation, questioning if it was "racial, national" or something else.
"After two minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft, after 1.5 hours, 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," Nurmagomedov said.
Frontier Airlines has since responded to Khabib's post, stating, "We are aware of the incident and are investigating."
Other social media users have called out the airline in defence of Nurmagomedov.
