Crock-ing off: Dethroned UFC champ Yan blasts ‘b****’ Sterling after rival calls Russian a ‘f***ing moron’ over disqualification

Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling have thrown the gloves off over the ex-champ's disqualification from their now-infamous UFC scrap, with the Russian elaborating on Sterling's perceived fake injury after being called a "dirty p****".

Yan was on top in the much-anticipated fight before sending the apparently-concussed Sterling sprawling around the octagon at UFC 259 on March 7, eventually earning a disqualification for what was deemed to have been an illegal knee in the fourth round.

Champion-by-default Sterling has been widely mocked by fighters and fans over his fight-ending reaction to the ill-judged blow, which caused cynics to suggest the incident had given him a positive way out of an encounter he was losing.

“Now I can definitely say that Sterling was feigning," a revenge-seeking Yan told Championat, adding that he hoped to secure a rematch in May or June.

"When the doctor appeared in the octagon, the judge told him that it was a prohibited strike, and [advised the disqualification].

"And Sterling immediately began to die even more. You saw the kind of theater he set up.

"Barely alive, and then immediately gave interviews so cheerfully, and in the evening he was already celebrating with his friends."

'No Mercy' had already responded to a post-fight image of Sterling appearing to drink alcohol with friends by expressing sarcastic concern for the bantamweight's wellbeing and surprise that he had recovered so swiftly.

Sterling inflamed the war of words on Wednesday by posting an animation of cartoon character Homer Simpson appearing confused as he leafed through an instruction manual, adding to Yan: "Hey, did you and your team learn the rules yet?"

That was enough for the bitter rivalry to descend into another round of obscenities and counter-claims.

"Just be grateful, cowardly b****," warned Yan, before Sterling hit back: "Grateful that you’re a dirty d*******."

Yan told Sterling to "keep playing victim" and labeled him the "softest fighter on the UFC roster", to which Sterling replied: "Play victim?

"You really can’t be this dumb, can you? Ahh, I can’t to slap the s*** out of you like the coward you are. You dirty p****."

Yan published footage from the fight and claimed he only needed "one takedown", while Sterling boasted that he had been surprised at how easy the fight was and said: "I still outstruck the striker. And you still lost because you’re a f***ing moron."

In between Yan telling him not to "forget to bring your balls to the octagon this time, b****", Sterling defended himself against messages from viewers who felt he had been less than honest and performed poorly.

"A lot of stuff looked bad but I was in the fight and the one pressing forward almost the entire time," he said.

"I hope Yan thinks he was 'killing me' from round one to round four. Going to be a complete flip of the script [in a rematch].

"I honestly wasn’t coherent enough at that exact moment [after the illegal strike] to make that decision [to continue]. I appreciate the support and I will be back to make things right.

"It still blows my mind that people think you can actually fake this. I’ve seen guys barely get hit and cop out of fights, yet I’m the actor. I’ll just keep poking at people's ignorance, albeit at my health’s expense.

"It baffles me that Yan is once apologetic about his 'mistake', then says I was faking.

"He disqualified himself. I won on his dirty play. We will pick up where we left off, except this time I won’t be depleted. He gave me an extra life.

"The guy starts attacking me that I was faking?? What the f*** planet do we live on where you can fake that?

"Screw it, he gifted me pay-per-view points. Maybe now I can finally be set for life after the rematch. Joke's on him."