Just be nice to clients: UFC champ Khabib reacts to being removed from plane

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was removed from a Frontier Airlines plane at the Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport after a dispute with a staff member over his seating. A video of he incident has gone viral on social media, with the fighter describing it as 'unfair'.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Khabib on Monday narrated his side of the event.

"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," he said.

The conflict arose when Khabib, who was seated in the exit row, was approached by a flight attendant who questioned his ability to help other passengers in case of an emergency. This is a standard requirement for passengers agreeing to sit in the exit row. Khabib, however, contended that despite his willingness to comply, he was treated rudely right off the bat.

A video, recorded by a fellow passenger, shows the flight attendant saying he could not be allowed 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 attendant can be heard saying.

The 36-year-old replied it was not fair and explained that he had complied with the onboarding process. "When I was in check-in, they asked me, do I know English... and I said yes. Then why you guys do this?," Khabib said.

However, the airline staff remained insistent that he move to another seat or remove himself from the flight. Security was called after a brief exchange and they escorted the undefeated MMA fighter off the plane.

"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 for 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," Khabib said.

He retired from MMA with an unbeaten record of 29-0 and was reportedly headed to California to support teammates ahead of UFC 311. The event is slated to take place in Los Angeles, and will feature two title fights -- one where Khabib's protege Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan and another where Umar Nurmagomedov will challenge Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight championship.

Frontier Airlines noted that they were aware of the incident and were looking into it.