Khabib Nurmagomedov submits 47th drug test to USADA

At the end of October, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 and retired, riding off into the sunset with a perfect record (29-0).

It took all of two days before UFC President, Dana White, called Khabib’s retirement into question, saying he had talked to his Lightweight champion and thought the Dagestani would end up going for that sweet, round 30-0 number. He followed up that news by announcing there was no totally awesome and radical UFC 155-pound tournament in the works because the promotion wasn’t planning on stripping Khabib of his title, either.

Now, you can add this to the pile of evidence that Khabib may not retire: he’s still in the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool. Not only is he still in it, but USADA actually showed up recently for the 47th time in Khabib’s UFC career.

“This is 47 times since 2015, as I have been tested for doping of USADA,” Khabib wrote. “Just think about this number.”

First, I love how annoyed Khabib looks / sounds in this Instagram post. Which makes you wonder: why is he still in the USADA testing pool if he’s done fighting? All it would take is one Ostarine tainted burger to ruin Khabib’s currently spotless reputation.

Perhaps it’s because there’s still a chance Nurmagomedov may return to face Georges St-Pierre, the “only fighter in UFC who excites me?” Or, he’s hanging around so he can get his 50 tests jacket?

We’re betting it’s totally the jacket.