Frontier Airlines faces backlash for Khabib Nurmagomedov removal

LAS VEGAS: A video posted on Sunday showed an argument between former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and a Frontier Airlines hostess, leading many to claim that racism was at play.

The argument stemmed from the air hostess’s belief that having Khabib sit in an exit row was a cause for concern.

Despite apprising the hostess that he understands English and is ready to help in the case of an emergency, the hostess refused to change her stance.

“It’s not about the language,” she said, adding shortly after that her flight attendents “were not comfortable with [Khabib] sitting in the emergency exit row.

Khabib was told that if he did not switch his seat, he would be escorted off the flight. The former champion shared that his ability to speak English was confirmed during check-in when he was assigned the seat. However, the hostess wouldn’t budge, stating that “It’s also off of [the attendants] judgement.”

The encounter led many to believe that racism was involved.

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Khabib later gave his side of the story in more detail on a post on Twitter, formerly known as X. He stated that the air hostess he was dealing with was “very rude from the beginning.”

He explained that despite expressing that he could speak English and had agreed to assist, the hostess insisted on removing Khabib from his seat.

“What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I’m not sure,” Khabib said.

Khabib detailed that following the conversation and the subsequent deplaning, he boarded another flight after a one and a half hour wait.

His post ended with a request to Frontier.

“Those crew members could do better next time and just be nice with clients.”

So far, Frontier has only stated that they “are aware of the incident and are investigating.”

Both former and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athletes chimed in on X, with long-time friend and training partner Daniel Cormier writing, “that’s really bad.”

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Michael Chandler had a longer post, in which he stated that Khabib was not only “the most physically capable human being on the plane but I’m pretty sure the ONLY qualification to sitting in the exit row is being able to say the word “yes.”

Khabib’s coach, Javier Mendez, praised his reaction to the incident on his podcast.

“He just walked out and didn’t say anything, didn’t complain and just walked out.”