UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou has come to the defense of middleweight king Israel Adesanya.

Adesanya put his UFC Middleweight Championship on the line against Jared Cannonier in the main event of UFC 276. The action was held inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After the fight, Jon Jones put Adesanya on blast for making a Frozen reference while calling out Alex Pereira for his next title defense.

Ngannou caught wind of Jones’ comments and he responded with the following:

https://twitter.com/francis_ngannou/status/1543496418903502848

“Since Jones been sitting back and talking sh*t, Izzy have defended his title a least 5 times. Well done CHAMP, @stylebender. Some people talk and some act.”

“The Predator” has been recovering from knee surgery. Last month, he told TMZ that he’s looking at a return either in December or early 2023.

“It’s getting better,” Ngannou said. “It’s been only 3 months, so yeah, I’m still doing physical therapy.”

“If everything goes well I’ll be ready by the end of the year because it’s gonna be 9 months. So, let’s say late December or early next year.”

“You know, as for now let’s fight for the situation and get everything squared up, and then when I will be close to the return, we will see where the landscape is at ’cause a lot of things can happen.”

UFC President Dana White told Jim Rome that Jon Jones’ next opponent depends on when Francis Ngannou will be ready to return. If Ngannou can’t be ready within the UFC’s schedule, then Jones vs. Stipe Miocic will likely be the next path.

Jones recently expressed his belief that a victory over Miocic would mean more than defeating a “fairly one-dimensional” Ngannou.