Khabib Nurmagomedov Kicked Off Plane Over Exit Row Dispute (UPDATE)

UPDATED 1/13 1:45 p.m. ET: UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has offered his side of the story after a video showed him being removed from a flight because of an argument.

"First of all, I need to clarify that it @FlyFrontier not AlaskaAir. 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, she still insists on removing me from my seat," he wrote. "What was the base for that, racial, national or other one, I'm not sure. But after 2 minutes of conversation, she called security and I was deplaned from this aircraft, after 1,5 hour I boarded another airline one and left to my destination."

He maintained that he he did his best to "stay calm and respectful" during the encounter, and concluded, "Those crew members could do better next time and just be nice with clients."

See original story below.

A viral video shows former UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov being removed from a flight.

On Saturday, the Russia-born fighter, 36, was involved in a seating dispute with Alaska Airlines staff at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas for a flight headed to Los Angeles, Al Jazeera reports.

Footage filmed by a nearby passenger shows Nurmagomedov seated in the plane’s exit row while in a verbal dispute with a staffer over his ability to assist others in the event of an emergency.

Nurmagomedov is heard saying he understands English and knows “how to help people” but was “trying to understand” what one of the flight attendants was talking about.

“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 and then we’ll have to rebook you,” the staffer is heard saying in the video before the retired UFC fighter complains, “It’s not fair.”

“I’m not going to do this back and forth, I will call a supervisor," the flight attendant says further into the clip. "You can either take a different seat or we can go ahead and escort you off the plane."

Despite the options presented to him, Nurmagomedov insisted on staying in his seat. The staffer then informed him that a supervisor would be booking him on a different flight.

Al Jazeera reports that Nurmagomedov’s traveling companions were also escorted off the aircraft. They were reportedly en route to Los Angeles ahead of the UFC 311 event set to be held on Jan. 18.