By Kelsey Mowatt

Aljamain Sterling looked relatively unscathed, following his largely one-sided, dominant win over Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai on Saturday. But, it sounds like the former bantamweight champ may have sustained a serious elbow injury.

Sterling repeatedly outscored Ortega in striking exchanges from the opening bell, and as the fight progressed, “T-City” stepped up his pressure, knowing he was behind on the scorecards. In round five, Sterling engaged Ortega less on the feet and attempted four takedowns. Two of which were successful.

Following Sterling’s unanimous decision victory, the featherweight contender revealed he sustained an elbow in round four, while reflecting on the bout’s final round (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“That last elbow I landed in round four, I really couldn’t even keep my arm up to defend myself,” Sterling said during the cards post-fight show. “When he came after me, I was like this is like a living nightmare right now.

“Because I can’t even do anything other than circle, and hopefully he makes a mistake, which he did and allowed me to take his back and get him down.”

Although Sterling was unable to record a finish, and the fight didn’t feature too many highlight reel moments, he did outstrike Ortega by a 153 to 100 margin.

“I was happy I got to show off my striking,” Sterling said. “Guys think I can’t box, they think I can’t kick. They think my striking is complete [crap]. I fight unorthodox because I like to take as little damage as possible. These guys come into the fights, they want to actually get into a back and forth fight.

“I’m here to win. I’m here to dominate. I’m here to make it look easy and if that makes you think I can’t strike, then step in there with me and see what happens.”

Sterling, who was fighting for the first time since December when he lost via decision to Movsar Evloev, now carries a record of 25-5. Ortega, who reportedly had issues cutting weight and so the bout was changed to a 153-pound catch-weight, saw his record fall to 16-5.

Heading into the card, Sterling was ranked #7 in the UFC’s featherweight division, and Ortega was ranked #5.