Khabib Nurmagomedov being kicked off a Frontier Airlines flight a few days ago has the whole MMA world weighing in. And the latest to join this heated conversation is Joe Rogan. The UFC commentator discussed the incident with his comedian friends on episode #13 of the ‘Protect Our Parks‘ JRE series. And Rogan’s reaction was quite predictable.

“He was calm and respectful, he obviously speaks English and he said ‘I’ll assist, I’ll open the door’… People are crazy,” Rogan said upon seeing the viral clip of the incident. Comedian extraordinaire, Shane Gillis weighed in to support Rogan and inject some levity as he claimed that: “I sit in that f***ing row they put f***ing slobs in that row.”

Rogan felt that the cabin crew did not know who Nurmagomedov was, and if they had known, they would have let ‘The Eagle’ stay on the emergency exit row seat. In fact, the JRE host even fantasized about being on the plane and telling the crew about who Nurmagomedov was.

“Wouldn’t you love to be on that flight and go ‘Ma’am do you know who that is? Like just let me tell you who that is. Let me Google him real quick,'” Rogan added. Of course, the podcast mogul thinks that the flight crew would have been apologetic and let Nurmagomedov sit on the emergency exit seat. But Rogan couldn’t be more wrong.

Could Khabib’s status as an MMA legend have prevented the unceremonious incident?

The reason Khabib Nurmagomedov was asked to move seats or get off the plane, according to the airline, is that he didn’t give the legally required ‘yes’ after the flight crew instructed him about what would be required of him in case of an emergency. The video that is going viral started after the instructor’s speech. And by this time, Khabib’s initial response was already noted but missed in the clip.

According to the airline (and the circumstances around his de-boarding), it was only because of Nurmagomedov not answering properly that he was asked to move seats or get off the plane. This is why it wouldn’t have mattered even if the crew knew who ‘The Eagle’ was. After all, the crew was required by law to make sure Nurmagomedov gave the proper response or asked him to move. They probably wouldn’t have broken the law just to accommodate a UFC star, as Rogan seems to think.

Not to mention there was a legitimate concern about Nurmagomedov’s proficiency in English. The former UFC star speaks with a heavy accent and English isn’t his mother tongue. In a life-or-death emergency situation, clear and concise communication would be absolutely essential. It is understandable why the crew asked Nurmagomedov to move. The language issue would be enough by itself, but if ‘The Eagle’ didn’t answer ‘yes’ to the instructions, that would legally oblige the crew to ask him to move or take another flight, as they did.

Of course, there is a possibility that the former champ did everything correctly, but was just kicked off due to racial bias, but that seems unlikely when one looks at the full context and the circumstances. What do you think about Joe Rogan’s take on Khabib Nurmagomedov being kicked off the flight?