UFC Star Khabib Nurmagomedov Escorted Off Airplane After Dispute with Crew About Seat

Corridor of Fame UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov was escorted off of a flight following an obvious dispute over his seat.

A video shared on social media early within the morning on Sunday, Jan. 12 seemingly reveals Nurmagomedov, 36, in a dispute with a Frontier Airways workers member, after she expressed concern about him sitting in an exit row on a flight from Harry Reid Worldwide Airport in Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

Nurmagomedov commented on the incident in a publish to X on Sunday, writing that he wasn’t positive why the Frontier staffers requested him to be faraway from his seat.

“Woman who [came] to me with questions was very impolite from the very starting, despite the fact that I converse very first rate English and may perceive every thing and agreed to help, she nonetheless insists on eradicating me from my seat,” the fighter wrote. “What was the bottom for that, racial, nationwide or different one, I am unsure.”

“However after two minutes of dialog, she known as safety and I used to be deplaned from this plane, after 1.5 hours I boarded one other airline … and left to my vacation spot,” Nurmagomedov continued. “I did my finest to remain calm and respectful as you possibly can see on the video. However these crew members may do higher subsequent time and simply be good with shoppers.”

Within the viral TikTok clip, seemingly shared by one other passenger on the flight, Nurmagomedov — who’s Russian — could be heard telling the staffer he understands English and may help within the occasion of an emergency, however he was “making an attempt to grasp” what the staffer was speaking about.

“What we will do is we’re both going to have you ever change your seat as a result of my flight attendants aren’t permitting you to take a seat within the exit row, or you are going to should get off this airplane after which we’ll should rebook you,” the staffer says within the clip.

“It is not honest,” the champion fighter replies.

The 2 proceed a dialogue about his English, and Nurmagomedov says that airport staffers requested him if he spoke English when he checked in and he mentioned, “Sure.”

“We can not help you sit within the exit row,” the staffer provides, noting that the request was based mostly on the flight attendant’s choice to not permit Nurmagomedov to take a seat in an exit row. “I’m not going to do that forwards and backwards. I will go name a supervisor. You possibly can both take a distinct seat or we will go forward and escort you off the airplane.”

The airline staffer then tells Nurmagomedov that he can be booked on one other flight. He then walks down the aisle with one other airline staffer. Al Jazeera reported that the folks he was touring with have been additionally requested to go away the airplane.

Al Jazeera additionally reported that the light-weight fighter could have been flying to California to attend the UFC 311 occasion on Jan. 18 in Inglewood.

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free every day e-newsletter to remain up-to-date on the perfect of what PEOPLE has to supply​​, from celeb information to forcing human curiosity tales.

A number of commenters on TikTok and different social media platforms wrote that they believed this was an Alaska Airways flight, however the airline clarified that the incident happened on one other airline.

“We now have seen media reviews with a video displaying a passenger being requested to go away an plane, incorrectly figuring out it as an Alaska Airways flight,” the airline mentioned in an announcement. “We now have checked our data and didn’t have this particular person on an Alaska Airways flight that day.”

Representatives for Nurmagomedov didn’t instantly reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark. Frontier Airways additionally didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Nurmagomedov had an undefeated 29-0 report throughout his UFC profession, in response to ESPN, and is the longest-reigning UFC light-weight champion of all time, as he held the title from April 2018 till his UFC retirement in March 2021.