"Good lord those punches look heavy!" - Former ONE heavyweight champion Brandon Vera impressed by Buchecha's ONE 158 effort

Former 13-time jiu-jitsu world champion and surging ONE Championship heavyweight Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida put up a strong showing at ONE 158. The grappling icon blasted through Aussie slugger Simon Carson inside one round, improving his budding MMA record to 3-0.

Fans, fighters and pundits alike were extremely impressed by Almeida's recent fight. One of the fighters who congratulated 'Buchecha' was former ONE heavyweight champion and former UFC fighter Brandon 'The Truth' Vera. The Filipino-American took to Twitter to express his admiration for the grappling icon.

"Did anybody else think @MarcusBuchecha would finish by TKO/KO and not submission? Good lord those punches look heavy! Super congrats Buchecha !!! Congrats HWTs, way to rep our division. I’ll see you all soon @ONEChampionship #ONE158 #ONEChampionship #Verafied #WeAreONE"

Good on Vera for congratulating his fellow heavyweight on representing the division in such impressive fashion. This goes to show the amount of respect the former champion has for his fellow fighters.

At 32 years old, one can say that Almeida is in his athletic prime and has all the potential to become a world champion in the very near future. With three straight stoppage wins already under his belt, the future looks bright for the jiu-jitsu living legend. Who knows, perhaps he'll get to face Vera in the cage at some point. That would be a fight both grappling and MMA fans would salivate to see.

---

Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida makes short work of Simon Carson at ONE 158

At ONE 158, Marcus Almeida faced Simon Carson in the lead card. The bout came on the heels of two straight fight cancelations for Almeida, who had his bouts at ONE 158 and ONE 157 scrapped. When the caged closed last night, the 13-time jiu-jitsu world champion utterly dominated the Aussie from start to finish.

In the fight, Almeida showed something new in his arsenal – kicks. We know that the ground specialist has been sharpening his Muay Thai at the American Kickboxing Academy and he got to showcase some of it early in the fight.

He didn't keep the fight standing for long, however, as Almeida went for his trademark blast double-leg takedown. Once he had Carson on the mat, the jiu-jitsu icon got to a solid mount position and rained down fight-ending blows on the prone Carson's head. The Aussie's corner threw in the towel just as the referee was about to call the fight.

Watch the fight highlights here: