Video | Cody Garbrandt kicked off flight over mask issue, confrontation with staff

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt was allegedly kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after a confrontation with a flight attendant.

According to Garbrandt, the issue in question occurred when Southwest Airlines staff took issue with his two-year-old son not wearing a mask on the flight. See the video, which Garbrandt shared on Instagram, below:

“F*ck @southwestair,” Garbrandt wrote in the caption for his post. “Got kicked off because my 2 year old son wouldn’t put his mask over his face. This coward flight attendant hid his bitch ass in the bathroom.”

Cody Garbrandt hasn’t fought since June, 2020, when he picked up a highlight-reel knockout win over Raphael Assuncao. That win separated him from a trio of knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw (twice) and Pedro Munhoz.

Garbrandt was briefly scheduled to drop down to flyweight to challenge Deiveson Figueiredo for the title late last year, but was forced out of the fight with a bicep injury, and then sidelined by complications stemming from a previous a COVID-19 infection.

“I was positive for COVID Aug 29th,” Garbrandt explained in a social media post. “Since then I have been battling vertigo, tore my vein in my bicep which resulted in finding out I have blood clots, pneumonia and mental fog, these are the symptoms I’ve had and been dealing with and this is the reason I pulled out of the fight. I haven’t done any media, but I’d like to address it on my own terms.”

At present, Garbrandt doesn’t have a fight booked, but he’s recently been targeting a clash with former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, as well as a rescheduled fight with the flyweight champion Figueiredo.

Do you think Garbrandt deserved to be ejected from this Southwest Air flight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, but please keep it civil.