Linda Hogan is firing back at the Hulkster ... claiming her ex-husband was lying through his over-bleached mustache when he accused her of abusing him during their marriage.

Linda is pissed over the statements Hulk made to Howard Stern this morning ... when he claimed he was the victim of verbal and mental abuse by his former spouse ... and that's why he decided to bang Bubba the Love Sponge's estranged wife.

Now, Linda is calling BS ... telling TMZ, "Unbelievable -- I never abused Hulk Hogan."

Linda also unleashed her lawyer, Raymond Rafool, who adds, "Hulk Hogan’s the-devil-made-me-do -it (or in his case my ex-wife Linda-made-me-do-it) is just a pitiful excuse for a grown man to avoid taking responsibility for his own mishaps and actions."

Rafool adds, "It is a shame that Hulk Hogan tries to deflect his immorality with false allegations that Linda verbally and emotionally abused him.  Linda Hogan never abused Hulk Hogan – verbally, mentally or otherwise."

Hulk Hogan just appeared on the Howard Stern show ... and admitted the woman in his sex tape is the estranged wife of his best friend, Bubba the Love Sponge ... who gave Hulk his blessing to nail her.

Hulk spilled his guts to Stern ... saying Bubba -- a nationally syndicated radio DJ -- allowed Hogan to have sex with Heather Clem six years ago.

During the interview, Hogan says he was still married to Linda at the time of the sex tape ...  but says she drove him to have sex outside the marriage because she was so verbally and emotionally abusive to him.

Hulk also admitted his performance wasn't exactly tip top.

Hogan says he's working with officials to find out who released the tape ... because he swears he didn't know he was being recorded ... and vows to press charges against the perpetrator.

A porn company DESPERATELY wants to put  Hulk Hogan's sex tape on their site ... so much so that they are offering him an "open checkbook" and gratuitously stroking his ego at the same time.

TMZ has obtained an offer letter from Sex.com to Hulk ... and they're looking to lock up the rights to his sex tape, which made the rounds on the internet this week without Hulk's permission.

In the letter, Sex.com says they can help Hogan with his leaked situation and, of course, they're are asking to release the tape on their site.

The letter states, "While this may be an embarrassing ordeal for you to go through right now, it doesn't need to be ... you are 'bigger' than Andre the Giant where it matters."

The site says they have an "open checkbook" if Hulk is interested in signing a deal. 

We reached out to Hogan for his response -- but so far, no word back.

Hulk Hogan's leaked sex tape did NOT catch the wrestler with his pants down -- at least figuratively -- because TMZ has learned, he's already got his lawyers on the counter-attack, threatening to SUE if the tape isn't taken off the Internet.

Gawker posted a minute-long clip of the sex tape on its website yesterday -- but sources close to Hogan tell TMZ, it won't be up for long ... because Hogan's currently drafting a nasty cease-and-desist letter to the website, demanding the footage be taken down.

Hogan's claiming the site has no right to post the footage -- and if it doesn't remove it, he'll sue.

Hulk's lawyer David R. Houston tells TMZ, "This tape was made secretly without Hulk's knowledge or permission. We are going to do everything in our power to figure out who did it. Anyone displaying the tape will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." 

As we first reported ... the Hogan tape was being shopped around to the highest bidder beginning earlier this year. Screen grabs hit the Internet in April, but video only surfaced yesterday.

Gawker says it obtained the tape from an anonymous source -- who gave the footage to the site for free.

As soon as news broke about the tape, Hogan immediately vowed to sue ANYONE who published it.  Hulk's word is his bond.