So what happens when an oversized "Butterbean" crashes into a hard head of "Cabbage?"

You can find out, not in the produce section of a supermarket, but in a cage at tonight's Rumble On The Rock 8 professional mixed-martial arts card.

Eric "Butterbean" Esch of Alabama will fight Hilo's Wesley "Cabbage" Correira in the main event. Preliminary bouts will begin around 7:30 p.m. at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

"Everybody knows when I'm in a fight, I'm trying to knock my opponent out," Esch said. "I have a lot of respect for Cabbage because he fights the same way. That's why this is such an exciting fight."

Prior to the main event, the quarterfinal bouts of an eight-man welterweight (175 pounds) tournament will be held. The field includes three of the top six welterweights in the world (No. 4 Anderson Silva of Brazil, No. 5 Frank Trigg of Los Angeles, and No. 6 Renato "Charuto" Verissimo de Oliveira of Brazil and Honolulu).

The bout between Esch and Correira will feature two bald-headed heavyweights with heavy hands.

"I'm expecting a stand-up war," Correira said. "I'm going to bring my knowledge in boxing and Muay Thai kickboxing. He's going to bring boxing. We'll see who brings more."

Esch has built somewhat of a cult following in the boxing world because of his cartoonish appearance and knockout power.

He is 5 feet 11 and weighed 394 pounds at yesterday's official weigh-in. His boxing record is listed at 71-7-4 with 54 knockouts, although he said "there are probably a bunch more (fights) that never went in the books."

Tonight's main event will be mixed-martial arts, so the fighters will wear smaller gloves and the rules allow for punching, kicking and grappling on the mat.

Esch's record in mixed-martial arts fights is 1-1-1. Correira, who weighed 261 pounds yesterday, is 17-8.

"I don't think (Esch) can be knocked out because he has no neck," Correira said. "You have to take away his legs and his body and hope the head falls."

In essence, Esch will fight any opponent, any time.

"People hear my name, they don't care what the record is," Esch said. "They just know Butterbean's fighting, so they're looking to see a knockout."

He said he still prefers boxing matches, but will accept mixed-martial arts bouts if it can fit into his busy schedule.

"Most guys fight three or four times a year, tops," said Esch, 38. "I'll fight 20 to 30 times a year. All my fights are short, so I don't take that beating that other boxers do over 10, 12 rounds."

Esch was a crowd favorite at Aloha Stadium last summer when he competed in the K-1 World Grand Prix in Hawai'i.

"That kind of happens at a lot of places I go to," he said. "But I know this is Cabbage's home, so I expect the crowd to be behind him."

Correira is looking for redemption after losses in his last two big bouts on O'ahu. He lost to Gary Goodridge in the K-1 World Grand Prix at Aloha Stadium, and got knocked out by David "Tank" Abbott at Rumble On The Rock 7 at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

"I go to sleep every night thinking about that," Correira said. "I definitely want to get back on track."

Esch built his reputation — and his nickname — by entering "toughman" competitions in the early 1990s. At first, officials did not allow him to fight because he weighed 420 pounds.

"They said I had to get under 400, so I went on a diet of butterbeans and chicken breasts," Esch said. "All my friends at work started making fun of me after that and when I finally got to fight, they started chanting 'Butterbean' and it stuck from there."

Since then, he has made numerous appearances on ESPN and other sports networks, and is known almost exclusively by his nickname.

"If you say Eric Esch is fighting, people say who?" he said. "But if you say Butterbean is fighting, everybody knows."

Esch said if he can prevail in tonight's bout, he may look into more mixed-martial arts events. He said he has even incorporated kicking into his daily training.

"There's going to be some knees; some kicking," he said. "Look at me. I'm carrying around some big legs."

Esch and his wife, Libby, have three children in Alabama. His two sons play football, and his daughter is into music.

"I'm just their dad, they don't follow my fights too much," Esch said. "The only time they got real excited was when I got invited to Wrestlemania."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.