It's safe to say we know which airline Khabib Nurmagomedov won't be flying with in the future.
After video of the former UFC lightweight champion being removed from a Frontier Airlines airplane went viral early Sunday morning, he made a statement on his social media about the incident.
"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," Nurmagomedov explained.
The initial dispute appeared to stem from the UFC legend being seated next to the emergency exit and Frontier flight attendants not believing he was suitable to do so after asking if he was willing to assist if there were an emergency.
In the viral video, a crew member can be heard explaining to Murmagomedov that he was being asked to switch his seat "because my flight attendants are not allowing you to sit in the exit row ... because they're not comfortable with you sitting in the emergency exit row."
The staff member is then heard giving Nurmagomedov two options, either switch seats or be removed from the aircraft and the former champ opted for the latter. Shortly after their conversation, he was escorted off the plane without further incident.
In his statement online, the 36-year-old reiterated that the reasoning provided did not make sense to him.
"What was the base for that? Racial, national or other one, I’m not sure," Nurmagomedov continued. "But after 2 minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft."
Less than 24 hours after the ex-fighter spoke about the incident online, Frontier Airlines released their own statement. Much of it disputing his telling of the interaction.
"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."
Frontier also stated that Nurmagomedov was offered an upgraded seat if he had agreed to move before being escorted off 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 travelling companions for their flights."
The Hall of Famer was on the flight presumably heading to California in anticipation of UFC 311 next week. The Dagestani is now a coach and is set to be octagon-side for fellow countryman and current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and cousin Umar Nurmagomedov who headline the main and co-main events of that card.
"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.”
Nurmagomedov mentioned in his statement that he boarded another flight a couple of hours later and eventually arrived at his destination.