
While much of the MMA world is in outcry over the treatment of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov by Frontier Airlines, which led to him exiting a flight this past Saturday, the airline is claiming the Hall of Famer did not cooperate with them.
While headed to California to corner teammates Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov, Khabib was asked to change his seat, placed near one of the plane’s exits, or be removed from the aircraft. The plane was still on the tarmac at the time. Caught on video, Nurmagomedov calmly stated that the requirement to move wasn’t fair, with many pointing to possible racial profiling after a Frontier employee claimed to be “uncomfortable” with him sitting there.
It later emerged that part of the issue may have been the belief that Nurmagomedov wouldn’t be capable of assisting in the emergency, due to a perceived language barrier (Nurmagomedov, a Dagestani, does speak English and has carried out media duties without a translator for years).
After issuing a brief statement to Cageside Press on Sunday stating that they were reaching out to the athlete, Frontier Airlines provided a longer explanation on Monday, via their Senior Director of Corporate Communications. In it, they claim that Nurmagomedov was in non-compliance of FAA regulations because he “did not respond” when repeatedly asked if he was able to assist in case of emergency.
“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, he was asked to move to a different upgraded seat which he refused to do. Therefore, in accordance with airline and FAA policy, he was asked to deplane. 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.”
This directly contradicts Khabib’s own account. In a statement issued on Sunday, the fighter said that he had agreed to assist in such circumstances. It should be noted that the airlines’ statement does read “according to the flight attendant,” and that the video clip of the exchange between fighter and employee only caught part of the situation.
However, in that same video clip, Nurmagomedov can be heard saying that “It’s not fair. You guys, when I checked in, they asked me, do I know English? Yes, I said.”
A Frontier employee then seems to confirm this, responding that it’s also a judgment call. “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, who kept his cool throughout the encounter, left the plane voluntarily.
The situation is a dicey one for Frontier, who have been dragged online (as was Alaska Air after initially being misidentified as the airline in question, and who are probably breathing a huge sigh of relief at this point). Khabib Nurmagomedov’s 38 million followers on Instagram dwarfs the following of Frontier on all social media platforms combined.