Pro fighter goes ballistic on a flight then gets escorted out on a stretcher

A mixed martial arts fighter and Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert was hauled off a flight after getting into a verbal grappling match with passengers and crew.

Mixed martial arts fighter and Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Aaron “Tex” Johnson has gone viral after being hauled from a Southwest Airlines flight after getting into a verbal grappling match with passengers and crew.

In the footage, Mr Johnson can be heard calling them “losers” and “pieces of s**t.”

The clip of his expletive-laden outburst is currently amassing millions of views on TikTok, X and Instagram however it’s yet unclear what kicked off the mile-high mayhem.

The footage shows the heavily-tattooed Johnson, 39 — who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu — getting into it with a flight attendant over an apparent bag issue shortly after boarding.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Mr Johnson, who is seated, tells the crew member.

“My bags are in storage. If you call the cops, I’m gonna call the cops on you and hire a lawyer [and] you’re f**ked. Don’t touch me!”

Johnson is an accomplished BJJ competitor.

Johnson gets into it with a flight attendant.

When a male passenger behind Johnson criticises his actions, the martial artist turns around and confronts him.

“Hit me, you lying-ass f**k,” he yells as his fellow flyers tell him to sit down.

The increasingly agitated Johnson then proceeds to repeatedly call his neighbour a “loser,” at one point even standing on his seat in his sandals so he can get in his critic’s face.

Things come to a head after a female flight attendant grabs him by the arms and pulls him away with the help of another crew member, prompting the grappler to accuse her of “assault” and “abuse.”

“Shut your mouth,” she yells at him.

Eventually, she tells Johnson to depart the flight. “Not on my flight,” the air hostess declares, before instructing him to “get off my plane.”

At long last, the incensed traveller grabs his bag from the overhead bin and walks off the plane with the blonde crew member right behind as passengers applaud and cheer “bye.”

Johnson makes it to the main door, but then turns around and continues to berate the flight attendant, accusing her of “assault” and yelling at her not to touch him.

Fed up with the tirade, a trio of flight attendants confront Johnson and yell at him to “get off” the aircraft, but he continues to stand at the door.

At one point, he labels another passenger a “piece of f**king s**t.”

Johnson has reportedly been blacklisted from Southwest.

The clip concludes with the crew members and Johnson continuing to go at it as another male passenger approaches the exit and asks if he can provide assistance.

In a follow-up clip taken at the airport, Johnson can be seen in a stretcher getting escorted by police as he yells, “This is bulls**t.”

“I’m getting treated like a black person right now,” the retired cage fighter declared.

According to local media View From the Wing, Southwest Airlines has since banned Johnson from all its future flights.

After footage of the incident blew up on social media, Johnson posted a somewhat cryptic message on his Instagram stories, writing, “For anyone trying to drag me down, it doesn’t matter to me, I have the best friends.”

“STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT MAY BE PERCEIVED AS RIGHT OR WRONG,” he added, per PaddleYourOwnKanoo.com.

“IF GOD WANTED US TO LIVE A CERTAIN WAY, HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN US BETTER INSTRUCTIONS. DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.”

Police officers escort Johnson through the airport.

Johnson is an accomplished figure in the BJJ world. According to BJJ Heroes, he is an international Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Federation 3x Pan American No-Gi Champion, although his overall record stands at 87 wins, 70 losses and one draw.

“Johnson is known for his aggressive and submission-oriented style with which he submitted some of the sport’s biggest stars, names such as Davi Ramos and Jackson Sousa,” BJJ Heroes writes.

He is also a former mixed martial arts star who competed for various organisations, including Bellator, according to Sherdog.com.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission