Khabib Nurmagomedov's own trainer had only heard of his departure incident when he saw a viral video online.
Javier Mendez, the legendary boss of the American Kickboxing Academy, has been coaching Khabib and his teammates for years. And with just days to go before his friend Islam Makhachev and cousin Umar Nurmagomedov stepped into the octagon at UFC 311, he was on his way back to training camp.
The renowned coach believes the incident occurred last week when his leadership was returning from a ski trip to Utah. But he never even told his trainer because he wanted to keep any negativity out of the camp.
Khabib Nurmagomedov was taken off the plane via a viral video
Viral footage has surfaced online after Khabib Nurmagomedov became involved in a dispute with a flight team member on a Frontier Airlines plane. Ultimately, the dispute became problematic enough to result in the UFC legend being escorted off the plane.
The disagreement is said to have arisen out of confusion, as it was claimed that the former UFC champion was asked to confirm that he could help other passengers off the plane in an emergency, while sitting in the emergency aisle. This is standard procedure if you are in an exit row.
Despite this, 'The Eagle' was subsequently left confused by the question, leading to a brief dispute with the flight attendant. “I know the language and I know how to help people,” Khabib pleaded.
“It's not about the language,” the flight attendant replied. “So what we're going to do is we're either going to have you switch seats because my flight attendants won't allow you to sit in the exit row, or we're going to have to get you off this plane because they don't feel comfortable.” while you sit in the exit row.
'It's not fair. When I was checking in, you guys asked me if I know English and I said, 'Yes,' it's not fair,” Khabib argued before the video abruptly cut off.
Khabib Nurmagomedov talks about what happened in a video
In the aftermath of the incident, Khabib chose to remain quiet for a short period before finally issuing a statement. In his response, he claimed that the issue may have been racial profiling as he is from Dagestan and English, although fluent, is his second language.
“First, I need to clarify that it was @FlyFrontier and not AlaskaAir,” he wrote after fans wrongly called for a boycott of Alaska Air.
View Tweet
“Lady who came to me with questions was very rude from the beginning, even though I speak English very well and understand everything and agreed to help, she still insists on removing me from my seat. What the basis for that was, racial, national or something else, I'm not sure.
“But after a two-minute conversation, she called security and I was kicked off this plane. After 1.5 hours, I boarded another airline and headed to my destination.
“I did my best to remain calm and respectful, as you can see in the video. But those crew members can do better next time and just be nice to the customers.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach gives his side of the story
All things considered, it doesn't seem like Nurmagomedov made much of a fuss about it in his personal life. His own trainer Javier Mendez seemed oblivious to the problem until the video went viral and racked up millions of views.
“I don't know, he didn't say anything to me, I didn't hear anything,” Mendez told Submission Radio before claiming the incident happened a week ago. “They didn't say anything to me, they're very quiet about it, so I imagine Khabib didn't think much about it.
“But the whole world thinks about it a lot because they racially profiled him a million percent. There's no way you can tell me you can't watch that video and see what they're saying, he asked the right questions!
“They ask if he speaks English, he says yes, they ask if he can help, he says yes, then he asks 'what's the problem, who's complaining about me?' Then it's the flight attendant who doesn't feel comfortable with you and I saw the video and said 'ah, this is what they do'.
“They racially profiled him because he was wearing a hoodie and they didn't like him wearing the hoodie. But you know why he wore it because he is a super famous athlete in the world and he doesn't want to be recognized.
“So in my opinion they should have asked him, 'Sir, can you please take off your hoodie?' Then okay, no problem. But to come out and do what they did was impossible. I know him and he won't do anything about it, but I think people who love him and love justice will be up in arms about this.
“They need to be held accountable and I think they should donate money to the victims of the LA fire as a gesture of goodwill. It won't bother Khabib too much because he is a man of God and he will just take it as something he takes at his leisure.
“I doubt he'll even talk about it, but it's not a matter of Khabib talking about it, it's a matter of us talking about the racial injustice that's happening in this world. I mean, he was polite! He said: 'yes, I can do this, yes I can help'.
Related topics
Comments