"First day of rehab" - Francis Ngannou shows up at UFC Performance Institute with crutches following knee surgery

Francis Ngannou is on the road to recovery as he turned up to the UFC Performance Institute to start rehab on his injured right knee.

The UFC heavyweight champion recently provided an update by posting a photo of himself on social media. The image shows Ngannou wearing a huge knee brace while using a pair of crutches. His post came with the caption:

"First day of rehab to get this knee back in order. It’s going to be a long process, but worth it"

Check out the Instagram post below:

'The Predator' apparently sustained the injury while training for his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January. Although he didn't confirm it until after the fight, it was apparent that Ngannou was nursing an injury as he walked out with knee sleeves – something he had never worn before.

Nonetheless, Ngannou found a way to secure the win and earn his first successful defense of the heavyweight crown. After losing the first two rounds, the Cameroonian was able to mount a comeback to convince the judges he had done enough to get the unanimous decision nod.

During his post-fight interview, Ngannou revealed that he injured his knee two weeks before the fight. He told Joe Rogan:

"Like two weeks ago, I hurt my knee, tore my MCL completely. I hurt my ACL and all those stuff. You know, I wanted to call [off] this fight, but couldn't see myself retreating from this fight because it was a moment for me to make a statement and to remind people that I'm the champ."

Watch Francis Ngannou's post-fight interview below:

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Dana White on interim title fight in Francis Ngannou's absence

The UFC is currently in limbo as Francis Ngannou is expected to miss about nine months to fully recover from his injury. However, Dana White is already considering another interim title fight to fill in

At the UFC London post-fight press conference, the UFC boss acknowledged the possibility that another interim heavyweight belt could be created to fill the void that Ngannou would leave. He told reporters:

"It’s very possible. We find out this week [how long he’s out]. If nine months is true, if it’s going to take nine months for him to get cleared to start training again. That’s almost a year before he would fight. So yeah, we would do an interim title."