Frontier Airlines has issued a statement after a video of UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov being removed from a recent flight went viral.
On Saturday, Nurmagomedov was scheduled to travel from Las Vegas to California where Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view event is scheduled to be held. However, his flight plans were held up after an airline attendant forced him off the plane. According to reports, Nurmagomedov was sitting in an emergency exit row and was repeatedly asked if he would be able and willing to assist in the event of an emergency.
After a brief verbal fracas, Nurmagomedov was removed from the plane, but not before another passenger caught some of the incident on video. The clip quickly went viral, prompting fight fans on social media to lambaste the airline.
Nurmagomedov has since spoken out about the incident, suggesting that his removal from the flight may have been related to his race or nationality.
according to Frontier, Nurmagomedov was in ‘Non-Compliance with FAA requirements’
Frontier Airlines released a statement to MMA Fighting, explaining their side of the story and that deboarding the legendary lightweight was well within their legal purview.
“On Jan. 11, 2025, as flight 4401 from Las Vegas to San Francisco was preparing for departure, 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…
“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 traveling companions for their flights.”
That explanation wasn’t good enough for the Council on American-Islamic Relations who demanded there be an investigation into the incident.
“We call on Frontier 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,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
“Given how often incidents of racial and religious profiling occur on airlines, especially against travelers who are noticeably Muslim, [Frontier Airlines] should also publicly release the results of its investigation and take appropriate action to address any misconduct or mistakes by its staff.”
