Francis Ngannou responds to Derrick Lewis: ‘I’m here now’

Derrick Lewis has taken a number of shots at Francis Ngannou over the last few weeks. Ngannou, meanwhile, has been largely radio silent.

Until now.

The heavyweight slugger finally responded to Lewis on Sunday. In a tweet, Ngannou said for someone to pass along to Lewis that he’s “here” and to have his manager get in touch with the UFC.

“Derrick has been talking some of his sh*t while I was off,” Ngannou wrote. “Can someone please let him know that I’m here now, so if he really wants me, he should send his manager to deal with @ufc.”

Ngannou (11-2) has not said much since his unanimous decision loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 220back in January. The Cameroon native, by way of France, had won five straight — all five by finish — leading into that bout. Ngannou, 31, was thought to be the next big thing at heavyweight.

Lewis (19-5, 1 NC), meanwhile, has been calling “The Predator” out for a bit. The Houston native rebounded from a loss to Mark Hunt by knocking out Marcin Tybura at UFC Austin last month. Lewis, 33, has won seven of his last eight fights and is fond of making fun of what he believes is Ngannou lying about his age.

“Yeah hopefully we can get something done this year man,” Lewis told the Slip n’ Dip podcastrecently. “Hopefully we can get something before he turns 50 on us.

Of course, Lewis also trolled Ngannou following his loss to Miocic.

Now, though, it seems as if Ngannou is ready to go. Perhaps “The Predator” vs. “The Black Beast” is indeed in the cards for this year.