But he also has a side gig as a mixed martial arts fighter, and his project tomorrow is David "Tank" Abbott.

"I beat him at his own game the last time we fought and I guess he didn't learn his lesson," Correira said. "So I'll just have to teach him again."

Correira and Abbott will meet in the main event of the Rumble on the Rock 7 mixed martial arts event tomorrow at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

It will be a battle of heavyweights with heavy punches.

David "Tank" Abbott

Correira, 26, was raised in Hilo and has become a crowd favorite in Hawai'i because of his knockout power. His record is 14-7, and 11 of his victories have come via knockout.

But he saves his power for the ring — or octagon, as its called in mixed martial arts. Correira is 6 feet 1, weighs 250 pounds, and has more than 20 tattoos on his body.

Still, he is able to communicate with youths on the Big Island by telling them about his not-so-rough past.

"I never got into fights when I was in school, not one," Correira said. "So I tell these kids, you don't have to fight to be tough. There's other ways to do it."

"When I was younger, I was short and had bushy hair and everybody said I looked like a Cabbage Patch Kid," he said. "The name just stuck after that."

Correira now has a shaved head and admits he has "alter egos" in and out of the ring.

"How I am at my regular job is totally different than what you see in the ring," he said. "My main thing with the kids is just to help turn their lives around."

Getting the message to Abbott is another matter.

In November 2003, Correira defeated Abbott in Connecticut. The bout was stopped in the first round because of a cut near Abbott's eye.

Correira broke into a dance routine when he was declared the winner, prompting a shoving melee in the ring between his camp and Abbott's.

"I know they didn't like what I was doing, but I won," Correira said. "I'll do the dance again (tomorrow)."

The two fighters have been exchanging verbal jabs ever since.

"He says the fight was stopped prematurely, but he didn't want any more of me," Correira said.

Abbott countered: "He got lucky the last time. He caught me with a knee to the head that opened up a cut and he's been running scared ever since."

Abbott is from Huntington Beach, Calif., and is a revered figure in the sport. His record is 8-10, and most of his bouts have been against top-ranked opponents.

Abbott is 40 and has not fought since his loss to Correira.

"I took a year off to clear some personal issues, but I couldn't think of a better way to come back than against Cabbage," Abbott said. "I came over here to beat him up."

Correira and Abbott have similar fighting styles, and both are predicting first-round knockouts.

"The fact is, I'm the new, better version of him," Correira said. "Tank was one of the guys I used to watch when I first started in this sport, but that was a long time ago."

Another Hawai'i fighter, Kimo Leopoldo, will be featured in a heavyweight bout tomorrow. Leopoldo, who is 6-3 and around 240 pounds, is scheduled to face Marcus Royster, who is 6-8 and around 360 pounds.

Top fighters from Brazil and Japan are also scheduled to fight on the undercard.

All of tomorrow's bouts will take place in an octagon-shaped cage.