UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was escorted off a plane set for takeoff from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas over the weekend due to a seating issue and he's now spoken out on the incident.

A very classy response from Khabib, via X:

“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. What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I'm not sure.

“But after 2 minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft, after 1.5 hour I boarded another airline one 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.”

Here's the video of the incident where the flight attendants were clearly treating Khabib with disrespect:

The flight attendants were “uncomfortable” with Khabib sitting in the emergency row and when he asked them why, they had absolutely zero reasoning. Apparently, he didn't respond to their question about helping in the case of an emergency.

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Frontier Airlines released a statement on the matter on Monday:

“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. 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.”

Khabib eventually got to San Francisco, but not without some drama.

Not a good look for Frontier.