While Cavalcante is primarily an
MMA fighter, he made his
K-1 debut fighting against
Masato in the
2007 World Max tournament, losing via decision. On September 17, 2007, Cavalcante won the
K-1 HERO'S' 2007 Middleweight (70 kg) tournament by defeating
Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist
Vítor Ribeiro by
TKO in the first round and
Andre Amade by submission via
armbar in the finals. Cavalcante had agreed to fight former
PRIDE Fighting Championship Lightweight standout
Shinya Aoki at
Yarennoka! but withdrew from the fight due to a knee ligament injury. The match was rescheduled for March 15, 2008, at
Dream 1 to kick off the new DREAM promotion at the
Saitama Super Arena. Early in the first round, the referee stopped the action when Cavalcante apparently landed illegal elbow strikes to the back of Aoki's neck. The ringside doctor announced that Aoki was unable to continue due to the injury and Cavalcante apologized for the incident. The fight resulted in a no contest. Elbow strikes to the neck and spine area are illegal under DREAM rules. Aoki was later found to have sustained concussion of the cervical vertebra. They had their rematch on April 29, 2008, at
Dream 2. Cavalcante was defeated by Aoki by unanimous decision.
Strikeforce Cavalcante signed a 4-fight deal with Strikeforce in June 2010. He made his debut against former
Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson, losing by a controversial unanimous decision. Cavalcante's next fight was against lightweight prospect
Justin Wilcox at
Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum. The fight ended in a no contest after Cavalcante poked Wilcox's eye. Cavalcante fought
Bobby Green on July 30, 2011, at
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson. He won the fight via split decision. On the 19th of May 2012, he lost a split decision to
Isaac Vallie-Flagg at
Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier and was subsequently released from Strikeforce. On June 30, 2012, Cavalcante was knocked out for the first time in his seven-year career by
Luis Palomino at CFA 07 in
Coral Gables, Florida.
Kickboxing He competed at the
Shoot Boxing World Tournament 2012 in Tokyo, Japan on November 17, 2012. The Shoot Boxing World Tournament, or "S-Cup", is an eight-man, 70 kg/154 lb standing vale tudo tournament that combines striking, throws and submissions held by the
Shoot Boxing Association once every two years. Cavalcante was drawn against
Hiroki Shishido at the quarter-final stage and lost by majority decision. He signed with the
Glory kickboxing promotion in August 2013. Cavalcante was set to face
Steve Moxon at
Glory 11: Chicago - Heavyweight World Championship Tournament in
Hoffman Estates, Illinois, US on October 12, 2013 but withdrew due to a lingering hand injury and was replaced by Reece McAllister.
World Series of Fighting Cavalcante faced off against UFC veteran TJ O'Brien at
WSOF 1: Arlovski vs. Cole. He won by submission due to an Achilles lock only 63 seconds into the fight. JZ next fought undefeated
Justin Gaethje at WSOF 2. Cavalcante suffered a deep cut on the hairline due to a knee from Gaethje that forced the referee to stop the fight at 2:27 of the opening round. In his third fight for the promotion, Cavalcante took on Strikeforce and 14 time UFC veteran
Tyson Griffin at
WSOF 4. After a back and forth fight, early in the third round Cavalcante took down an exhausted Griffin and proceeded to land a barrage of undefended punches from the back mount thus winning the fight via TKO. Cavalcante was scheduled to rematch Justin Gaethje for the inaugural WSOF Lightweight Championship at WSOF 8 on January 18, 2014, in
Hollywood, Florida, but pulled out due to an undisclosed injury. Cavalcante faced
Melvin Guillard on July 5, 2014, at
WSOF 11. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Hawn came out of retirement to face
Rick Hawn on October 21, 2022, at Combat FC 2. He won the bout via guillotine choke in the second round. ==Grappling career==