Khabib removed from a plane? It seems even one of the most famous Muslims in the world couldn’t escape racial profiling in America. It doesn’t matter what “status” you have. @AlaskaAir this is complete garbage. pic.twitter.com/o6XB3KMi77
— Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman)
January 12, 2025
Former UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov champion was apparently forced to exit an Alaska Airlines flight following a dispute regarding his seat in an exit row.
In a video shared by Dr. Omar Suleiman from the TikTok account viceplayer28, Nurmagomedov is seen arguing with a flight attendant about his seat on the plane. The area of disagreement appears to be regarding Nurmagomedov’s ability to assist others in the event of an emergency. While Nurmagomedov did not agree with the flight staff’s assessment, he appears to exit the plane without further incident.
The conversation with the flight attendant, as transcribed by MMAFighting.com, is as follows:
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?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has since released has since released a statement on the incident and has called for an investigation for potential racial and religious profiling of Nurmagomedov.
“We call on Alaska Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation to swiftly and transparently investigate this incident to determine exactly what happened on this flight and why athlete and Muslim advocate Khabib Nurmagomedov was treated this way and whether religious or racial profiling played a role in his treatment,” the statement reads.
“Given how often incidents of racial and religious profiling occur on airlines, especially against travelers who are noticeably Muslim, Alaska Airlines should also publicly release the results of its investigation and take appropriate action to address any misconduct or mistakes by its staff.”
Nurmagomedov was likely traveling ahead of UFC 311, where he will corner current lightweight champ Islam Makhachev and bantamweight title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov in their fights on Saturday.
