He ventured into the world of kickboxing when he was recruited by K-1 to fight in the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii" on July 29, 2005. Paired with fellow MMA slugger and eventual tournament champion Gary Goodridge in the quarter-finals, Correira went out as is typical of MMA fighters trying their hand at kickboxing; he was chopped down with low kicks in round one. Returning to MMA, he took three straight wins by first round stoppage before falling to Eric "Butterbean" Esch via TKO due to a broken arm at "Rumble on the Rock 8" in Honolulu on January 20, 2006, in a fight which took place under special rules, ground fighting being limited to fifteen seconds per instance regardless of the situation. This triggered a run of defeats as Cabbage was submitted with a Kimura by Kazuhiro Hamanaka at "Rumble on the Rock 9" on April 21, 2006, and then stopped via cut by debuting professional wrestler Mike Polchlopek at "Rumble on the Rock: Beatdown 1" on June 17, 2006.