After picking up two more wins in other promotions, he returned in 2005, defeating French fighter Rani Berbachi via decision.

The fight was highly exciting; Pitchkonouv scored an early knockdown from a wheel kick to the head, before being knocked down twice with barrages of punches from the Samoan.

Pitchkonouv fought twice more in 2007, defeating Tsuyoshi Nakasako and losing to Doug Viney via unanimous decision.

After a decision over Nobu Hayashi in the quarterfinals, he faced Canadian MMA fighter Vaughn Anderson in the semi-finals.

In the finals of the 2008 K-1 World Grand Prix in Taipei, he faced fellow Russian Ruslan Karaev.