Russian mixed martial arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has been removed from a flight in the US after a seating dispute with airline staff at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
In a video clip that was widely circulated on social media, airline employees can be seen confronting the martial arts fighter and asking him to change his seats because passengers did not feel comfortable with him sitting near the emergency exit, according to what was reported by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. The island.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend explained in a post on X that the incident occurred on a Frontier Airlines flight after initial reports said it happened on an Alaskan Airlines flight.
Nurmagomedov also questioned whether he had been subjected to racial discrimination, adding that the flight attendant who spoke to him “was very rude from the beginning.”
He added that he speaks “very good English and can understand everything and agreed to help, and she still insists on removing me from my seat.”
He added: “What is the basis for this? Is it racist, nationalistic, or something else? I am not sure.”
The legendary athlete did not explain when the accident occurred, and the airline has not yet commented on this issue.
In the video, recorded and shared by another passenger, we hear a flight attendant telling Nurmagomedov: “We can’t let you sit in the exit row (…) I’m not going to do this back and forth. I’m going to go call the number. You can either take a different seat or we can go ahead and escort you out.” “The plane.”
“It’s not fair,” the retired UFC fighter responded.
He continued, saying that he fully complied with the flight crew during the check-in process before the flight, “They asked me if I knew English (…) and I said yes.” So why are you guys doing this?”
The flight attendant’s manager was not satisfied with the UFC lightweight champion’s response and offered the fighter another seat on the plane or take another flight.
In his post on X, Nurmagomedov said that security was called two minutes into the conversation and that he was “taken off the plane.”