Yan calls Sterling a ‘sneaky coward’ for pulling out of rematch

Petr Yan has labelled Aljamain Sterling a ‘sneaky coward’ for pulling out of UFC 267.

Petr Yan believes Aljamain Sterling pulled out of their proposed bantamweight title rematch at UFC 267 because he’s a coward.

Sterling won the first fight via disqualification but was behind on the judges' scorecards. Yan, who hails from Russia, hit ‘Funky’ with an illegal knee in the fourth round but maintains that it was accidental.

‘No Mercy’ is now looking for a replacement opponent — hopefully, someone in the top-five — after Sterling pulled out of the rematch due to injury.

“You all know that [Sterling] just ran away like a sneaky coward,” Yan said in a selfie video that was uploaded and translated by RT Sport. “I am not going to sit and wait for him. I am going to fight.”

“Give me any fighter, top-five, top-seven, top-10. Anyone who deserves to fight for the belt and I will get the job done.”

Yan’s replacement fight is expected to be for the interim bantamweight title, according to MMA Fighting, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Yan, who is considered by many to be the real champion, is #1 in the UFC bantamweight rankings.

UFC 267, which was expected to feature Yan vs. Sterling 2 as the co-main event, is scheduled to take place on Oct. 30 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.