Arman Tsarukyan removed from plane, American Airlines issues statement regarding incident

Arman Tsarukyan and some of his friends were removed from an American Airlines flight bound for Philadelphia after an altercation prior to takeoff.

Video surfaced on Thursday showing Tsarukyan being taken off the plane with initial reports stating that he was talking on his phone while the flight was preparing for takeoff. Tsarukyan was traveling from Los Angeles to Philadelphia for his match at RAF 8 where he faces Urijah Faber in the co-main event.

Arman Tsarukyan was reportedly just kicked off an American Airlines flight because he was "looking at his phone during takeoff" 😬

(via @AdamZubayraev) pic.twitter.com/X2mRiKsCHR

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 16, 2026

Following video of Tsarukyan and his friends being removed from the flight went public, American Airlines officials issued a statement to MMA Fighting regarding the incident involving the top ranked lightweight contender.

“On April 16, American Airlines flight 513 returned to the gate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for customers who refused to follow federal regulations,” American Airlines officials stated.

“Safety is our top priority and we expect our customers to comply with crew member instructions while on board our aircraft, which include staying seated while the aircraft is taxiing.”

The incident apparently didn’t involve anybody on their phone, but rather Tsarukyan and his friends standing in the aisle while the aircraft was taxiing and they refused to sit in their assigned seats. Crew members attempted to get the passengers to return to their seats before ultimately the decision was made to return to the gate

Four people, including Tsarukyan, were removed from the flight and the plane departed for Philadelphia shortly thereafter.

Following the altercation, Tsarukyan took to Instagram to saying “kicked off commercial, I guess private it is” as he boarded a separate flight bound for Philadelphia.

“I hope they’re not going to kick me out from this plane,” Tsarukyan said as he boarded the private flight. “OK guys, I’ll be five hours in Philadelphia.”