UFC heavyweight Junior dos Santos has taken a shot at former rival Francis Ngannou due to some recent comments from the former title challenger.

Dos Santos and Ngannou went to war in a thrilling 70-second showdown at UFC Minneapolis this past summer. While dos Santos had some kicking success, he ultimately couldn’t handle the overwhelming power of his opponent as Ngannou was able to defeat him via TKO.

With both men looking to vault themselves back into contention in one way or another, dos Santos has launched an intriguing verbal assault on “The Predator” during a recent interview with MMA Fighting.

“Miocic is a good boxer, and now there’s Ngannou talking a bunch of crap, saying he’s the best boxer in the heavyweight division because he was lucky to defeat me,” dos Santos said. “He’s not, and never will be. I’ll prove that soon and shut that little mouth so he stops talking nonsense. He’s a very strong guy, of course, and must be respected. He had a great win over me, but real fighters keep their results. We’ll see what happens soon.”

Many people have commented on the perceived ego problem that Ngannou has suffered from ever since his rise to prominence, but given how sensational he’s looked across his last three fights, it’s hardly surprising to see everyone getting excited about what the future holds for the 33-year-old.

While dos Santos is set to have his hands full with an intriguing heavyweight encounter against Curtis Blaydes which is set for UFC Raleigh, Ngannou’s future is more unknown. He’s been tipped to headline the highly anticipated first UFC card in France next year, but no official date has been set for that as of yet.

For now, he’ll be sitting back and seeing what transpires in the inevitable trilogy fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 11/28/2019.