Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has spoken publicly after footage of his removal from a flight before takeoff went viral this weekend.
Khabib will be in Los Angeles next week as two of his team’s star fighters compete with gold on the line at the UFC 311 pay-per-view. Inside the Intuit Dome, Islam Makhachev will headline in defense of his lightweight crown, while Umar Nurmagomedov will first challenge for the bantamweight gold.
But while attention will soon be on their showdowns with Arman Tsarukyan and Merab Dvalishvili, respectively, the biggest talking point a day out from UFC 311 fight week has surrounded their coach.
A video emerged on Sunday showing Khabib being removed from a plane due to fly from Las Vegas to LA. Audio from the incident appeared to reveal a dispute with a flight attendant over the Dagestani’s seat on the emergency exit row.
After the video went viral and drew out plenty of reactions from the MMA community online, Khabib took to Instagram to give his side of the story and clarify which airline he was attempting to fly with.
“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.”
It remains to be seen what will come of the incident, which has spread across the Internet and resulted in some of the former UFC champion’s fans calling for a boycott of the airline in question.
“The Eagle” himself, meanwhile, will no doubt be looking to keep his focus on the task at hand next week, as he gears up for two crucial contests for his team at the UFC 311 PPV on Jan. 18.
