Video – UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov removed from flight amid heated seating dispute
Footage has emerged on social media this morning, detailing an incident of a flight which seen former UFC lightweight kingpin, Khabib Nurmagomedov removed and deboarded from the plane in which he was slated to travel on, amid a dispute over his seating in an exit row.
Nurmagomedov, who is slated to travel to Los Angeles this week ahead of UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome, is set to corner both event headliner and co-headliner.
Doing duties for incoming bantamweight title challenger, Umar Nurmagomedov, Khabib Nurmagomedov will corner his cousin during his UFC 311 title charge against the surging, Merab Dvalishvili in California.
And in the night’s main event, Nurmagomedov will also corner undisputed lightweight champion and current pound-for-pound number one, Islam Makhachev, who rematches the streaking Armenian challenger, Arman Tsarukyan.
Khabib Nurmagomedov removed from flight amid seating row
However, this morning, footage emerged of Khabib Nurmagomedov engaged in a heated dispute with flight attendants as he attempted to travel to Los Angeles for the flagship card, resulting in his deboarding from the plane and return to the terminal.
Sat in an exit row on an Alaska Airlines flight, Khabib Nurmagomedov was involved in a dispute with flight attendants regarding his ability to assist other passengers in the case of an in-flight emergency, as well as his English-speaking ability.
Informed how an airline steward could be requested in order to escort him from the flight amid the dispute, Nurmagomedov appeared to leave the flight under his own power.
A full transcript of the dialogue between Nurmagomedov and the flight attendants in question was then obtained by MMA Fighting.
Attendant: OK, so what we’re going to do is we’re either going to have you switch your seat because my flight attendants are not allowing you to sit in the exit row or you’re going to have to get off this plane … because they’re not comfortable with you sitting in the exit row.
Nurmagomedov: Who isn’t comfortable?
Attendant: My flight attendants.
Nurmagomedov: It’s not fair.
Attendant: It is fair.
Nurmagomedov: It’s not fair. You guys, when I checked in, they asked me, do I know English? Yes, I said.
Attendant: They said yes, I understand that, but it’s also off of their judgment. I’m not going to do this back and forth. I will call a supervisor. You can either take a different seat or we can go ahead and escort you off the plane.
Nurmagomedov: It’s not fair.
Attendant: Which one are we doing?
