Eric Scott Esch, commonly referred to as Butterbean, is an American boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial
artist and professional wrestler who competes in the Heavyweight division. Esch transitioned
to professional boxing in 1994 following a successful stint on the Toughman Contest scene
and went on to capture the World Athletic Association heavyweight and IBA super heavyweight
championships. Beginning in 2003, he began fighting regularly as a kickboxer and mixed
martial artist, most notably in K-1 and the Pride Fighting Championships. Butterbean's
combined fight record stands at 94 wins, 24 losses, and 9 draws.
Early life Esch was born in Bay City, Michigan and raised
in Jasper, Alabama. He had a difficult childhood; his mother died when he was eight years old,
and he was frequently bullied at school for being overweight. While decking floors for
manufactured homes at the Southern Energy Homes plant in Addison, Alabama, his colleagues
dared him to enter a local Toughman Contest. He went on to win the tournament and begin
his career in fight sports. Career
Boxing career and becoming "King of the 4 Rounders"
Esch began his fighting career on the Toughman Contest scene in Texarkana, Arkansas in the
early 1990s and went on to become a five-time World Toughman Heavyweight Champion with a
record of 56–5 with 36 knockouts. He received the nickname "Butterbean" when he was forced
to go on a diet in order to meet the Toughman 181 kilogram/400 pound weight limit.
He made his professional boxing debut on October 15, 1994, beating Tim Daniels by decision
in Birmingham, Alabama. He soon developed a cult following and became known as "King
of the 4 Rounders". Speaking of his popularity in a 2008 interview with BoxingInsider, Esch
stated: Esch ran up an impressive string of wins,
mostly by knockout, before being stopped in two rounds by Mitchell Rose on December 15,
1995. Butterbean took the loss with a shrug of his shoulders and went on the road, barnstorming
around the United States and winning fifty-one consecutive matches, with his best win coming
against Peter McNeeley. While the majority of his opponents were technically limited
club-level fighters early in his career, he did move up the ranks to win the IBA Super
Heavyweight Championship on April 12, 1997 with a second round technical knockout of
Ed White at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He made five successful title
defences before relinquishing his championship in 2000.
Butterbean appeared twice in World Wrestling Federation professional wrestling events,
competing in boxing matches both times. On December 7, 1997 at the D-Generation X: In
Your House pay-per-view event, he defeated former Golden Gloves champion Marc Mero via
disqualification in a worked match. Two years later, Butterbean defeated Bart Gunn in a
legitimate shootfight at WrestleMania XV on March 28, 1999, defeating the Brawl For All
champion with ease, violently knocking him out in 27 seconds.
After his five year winning streak was brought to an end with a majority decision defeat
by non-script heavyweight Billy Zumbrun in August 2001, he fought his first ten rounder
against fifty-two year old former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at the Norfolk Scope
in Norfolk, Virginia on July 27, 2002. While Holmes won a unanimous decision, Esch was
credited with a controversial knockdown in the final round. Holmes fought a fight on
points, playing on his reach advantage, wary of Butterbean's knockout punch. This was one
of only three fights in a 109 fight career that was scheduled for more than four rounds.
K-1 Butterbean ventured into the sport of kickboxing
in 2003 when he was recruited by K-1 and debuted with a first round knockout of Yusuke Fujimoto
at K-1 Beast II 2003 in Saitama, Japan on June 29, 2003. K-1 was then keen to match
him up with Ernesto Hoost, but he declined to take the fight on the advice of a friend
who warned him of the Dutchman's kickboxing prowess. He instead faced Mike Bernardo in
a non-tournament bout at the K-1 Survival 2003 Japan Grand Prix Final in Yokohama, Japan
on September 21, 2003. He was floored twice with low kicks in the first round before being
finished with a high kick in the second. In his first mixed martial arts bout, Eric
Esch took on Genki Sudo in an openweight affair at K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!! in Nagoya,
Japan on December 31, 2003. Despite having a 110 kg/242 lb weight advantage over his
foe, Butterbean was unable to capitalize as Sudo was unwilling to exchange strikes. "The
Neo-Samurai" took Butterbean to the mat with a low, single-leg takedown at the end of round
one and attempted a leglock only to be halted by the bell signaling the end of the round,
which had been a stalemate up until then. Early in round two, the fighters tumbled to
the ground after Sudo attempted a flying kick on Esch, and the Japanese grappling ace took
full advantage of the American boxer's lack of grappling skill by securing a heel hook
submission at the 0:41 mark. Returning to the kickboxing ring at K-1 Beast
2004 in Niigata on March 14, 2004, Butterbean lost a unanimous decision to Hiromi Amada
as Amada peppered him with low kicks while Esch did little more than taunt his opponent
throughout the match. He was scheduled to fight Bob Sapp soon afterwards, but claims
that Sapp's management withdrew their fighter after discovering that Amada had needed hospital
treatment after his bout with Esch. Butterbean lost his third consecutive K-1 match at K-1
Beast 2004 in Shizuoka on June 26, 2004, losing to 225 cm/7'5" giant Montanha Silva by unanimous
decision. Competing in the eight man tournament at the
K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii in Honolulu on July 29, 2005, Esch put an end to his losing
streak when he scored a third round standing eight count en route to a unanimous decision
victory over 150 kg/330 lb brawler Marcus Royster in the quarter-finals. Despite the
win, Butterbean sustained an injury to his left leg during the fight and could not continue
and so Royster was entered back into the tournament in his place.
Pride Fighting Championships
Having lost his MMA debut to Genki Sudo, Esch stuck with the sport and regrouped, going
6–0–1 in appearances in King of the Cage, Gracie Fightfest, and Rumble on the Rock which
included a TKO stoppage of Wesley "Cabbage" Correira 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. He returned to
Japan with the Pride Fighting Championships on August 26, 2006 to compete at Pride Bushido
12 in Nagoya against Ikuhisa Minowa, a catch wrestler known for his willingness to face
much larger opponents, to whom he lost via armbar submission at 4:25 of round one.
Butterbean was set to fight Mark Hunt at the promotion's first North American show, Pride
32 in Las Vegas on October 21, 2006 but the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not
allow the match-up as they argued that Hunt's wins over Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop
gave him an unfair mat advantage. Pride had stated that "visa issues" were preventing
Hunt from competing in the bout, but it was later confirmed that Hunt could not compete
due to the NSAC's ruling. Pro wrestler Sean O'Haire stepped in as Hunt's replacement and
Eric Esch TKO'd him in under thirty seconds. Departing Pride briefly to compete in Cage
Rage, Eric Esch submitted to strikes from Rob Broughton in the second round of their
contest at Cage Rage 19 in London, England on December 9, 2006. He then rebounded with
a forty-three second knockout of James Thompson at Cage Rage 20 on February 10, 2007.
Butterbean returned to Pride for the promotion's last ever event, Pride 34 in Saitama on April
8, 2007, where he faced Zuluzinho in a bout where both men weighed in at 184.6/407 lb.
Both fighters came out swinging before Zuluzinho scored a takedown. Esch reversed him, landing
several hammer shots before finally submitting Zuluzinho with a key lock at 2:35 of the opening
stanza. Later career
Butterbean's next fight was on July 14, 2007 against reigning Cage Rage World Heavyweight
Champion Tengiz Tedoradze in a non-title bout at Cage Rage 25, losing via TKO. Global Fighting
Championships had scheduled a main event bout between Esch and Ruben Villareal for their
inaugural event, but the event was canceled when half the scheduled matchups could not
take place due to medical issues. He was then set to fight Jimmy Ambriz as the main event
of Xcess Fighting's debut card, but was a no show for the weigh-in citing scheduling
conflicts. Esch made a brief return to K-1 to fight at
the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii on August 9, 2008, rematching Wesley Correira
in the quarter-finals and losing via a second round high kick KO.
Esch lost via 1st round KO for the EBF title against Mark Potter at the Syndicte Nightclub
in Blackpool, England on the September 14, 2008. This fight has not been recorded on
boxrec.com or any other site of the same nature, as Potter was not licensed at the time.
Butterbean made his independent wrestling debut at the Birmingham–Jefferson Civic
Center in Birmingham, Alabama on March 28, 2009 at the ImagiCon horror movie, sci-fi
movie, and comic book convention and was victorious against rapper/professional wrestler/film
maker/actor Anthony "One Man Kru" Sanners via pinfall after smashing him with a vicious
400 lb. elbow drop. Butterbean won the Pro Wrestling Syndicate Heavyweight Championship
on May 29, 2009 after defeating Trent Acid. Butterbean lost the belt to Kevin Matthews
on May 8, 2010 in White Plains, New York. In his final kickboxing match at Moosin II
in Seoul, South Korea on July 29, 2009, Esch KO'd Moon-Bi Lam forty-six seconds into round
one. On October 3, 2009 Esch lost a four round
split decision to Harry Funmaker whom he earlier beat on two occasions. After the bout he announced
his retirement. He seemingly changed his mind, however, and soon returned to competition.
On September 18, 2010, Esch was defeated by Mariusz Pudzianowski by submission due to
strikes at KSW XIV in Łódź, Poland. After several exchanges of strikes on the feet,
Pudzianowski attacked and took Esch down, proceeding to throw numerous punches from
side control in a ground-and-pound attack. Esch, unable to get to his feet, submitted
at just 1:15 into the first round. Esch next took on up-and-coming super heavyweight
Deon West at the LFC 43: Wild ThangMMA internet pay-per-view on October 12, 2010. After a
heated contest, Deon did not rise for the third round. Butterbean humbled Deon West
via TKO at 5:00 of round two. On April 1, 2011, Butterbean returned to pro
wrestling and teamed with his Walker County Sheriff Deputy partner Adam Hadder to take
on Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and One Man Kru in a tag-team match at the Battle Against
Drugs charity benefit which was taped for Butterbean's reality show Big Law. He appeared
in February 2012 at Wrestlerama in Georgetown, Guyana where on entering the ring he told
the crowd Guyana is his second home and was booed off because he mispronounced Guyana.
Butterbean defeated Dean Storey at Elite 1 MMA: High Voltage on May 7, 2011 in Moncton,
New Brunswick, Canada to claim the promotions super heavyweight title. He knocked out Storey
24 seconds into the 2nd round. Media appearances
Big Law: Deputy Butterbean Esch is a reserve deputy sheriff in his hometown
of Jasper, Alabama and starred in the reality television documentary entitled Big Law: Deputy
Butterbean which debuted on the Investigation Discovery channel in August 2011. "They came
to me wanting to do a reality documentary on my restaurant and I was in the process
of closing my restaurant down," he said. "I said 'If you want something interesting and
fun to watch, follow us on our drug busts in the sheriff's department.' They agreed
people would be interested in this. "They started following us, filming it and documenting
us actually making the busts. You arrest somebody and say 'Look, if you don't want to go to
jail you've got to help us bust a bigger guy.' We make a bigger bust from that. The whole
goal is to get people on file and lessen the number of criminals on the streets."
"I think this show is going to prove that people really care about the communities they
lived in," said Esch. "There's going to be more people calling saying 'Hey, this guy
is doing this crime. You should look into it.' We want people to step forward and help
the police clean up our communities." The show was not renewed for a second season.
Film Butterbean appeared in the film Jackass: The
Movie, where he fought Johnny Knoxville in a department store. After the fight began,
Knoxville fell, got up, was asked by Butterbean to hit him once at least. Knoxville did so,
was easily floored by Esch and received several stitches in his head after the encounter.
Knoxville stated that Esch is actually quite friendly outside of the ring, despite his
fearsome ringside demeanor. Butterbean also appeared in the film Chairman
of the Board as the Museum Security Guard with the "chia hair", a fact that is pointed
out on the DVD commentary by the movie's star Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson.
Television Butterbean appeared on Adult Swim's Squidbillies
where he sang the national anthem, and ended up beating up a fan for not taking off his
hat. Butterbean appeared on CMT's Hulk Hogan's
Celebrity Championship Wrestling television show, on Team Beefcake.
Butterbean was referenced on NBC's Parenthood. The episode aired on October 5, 2010 and was
titled "Date Night". In June 2013, Butterbean was interviewed in
Australia on Fox Sports programme, Monday Nights with Matty Johns.
Radio On July 16, 2005, Butterbean fought Dominic
Dieter of Rover's Morning Glory, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio in a bout billed as "War on
the Shore". Video games
Butterbean was featured on the cover of, and was the final boss character in, the EA Sports
game Toughman Contest, released in 1995 for the Sega Genesis and Sega 32X. He also appeared
as a playable character in all of the EA Sports boxing video games in the Knockout Kings series,
and was featured in Fight Night Champion. In the 2007 PC game The Witcher, the main
character can challenge a tavern fistfighter by the name of Butter Bean during the second
chapter of the game. Butter Bean has a body structure similar to that of Esch. Butterbean
is a playable fighter in EA's fifth installment of the Fight Night series Fight Night Champion.
Personal life Eric Esch is married and has three children:
sons Brandon and Caleb, who are both mixed martial artists, and daughter Grace.
Championships and awards Boxing
International Boxing Association IBA World Super Heavyweight Championship
World Athletic Association WAA World Heavyweight Championship
Mixed martial arts Elite-1 MMA
Elite-1 MMA Super Heavyweight Championship
Professional wrestling Pro Wrestling Syndicate
Pro Wrestling Syndicate Heavyweight Championship
Boxing record Kickboxing record
Mixed martial arts record External links
Official K-1 profile K-1Sport profile
Official Pride profile Professional MMA record for Eric Esch from
Sherdog Professional boxing record for Eric Esch from
BoxRec Eric Esch at the Internet Movie Database
References