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Eric Esch
Born	Eric Scott Esch August 3, 1968 (1968-08-03) (age 41) Bay City, MI, US
Other names	Butterbean
Nationality	American
Height	5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m)
Weight	405 lb (184 kg; 28.9 st)
Reach	78.0 in (198 cm)
Style	Boxing
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Jasper, Alabama
Team	American Top Team Team Butterbean
Trainer	Murray Sutherland
Years active	1994–present
Boxing record
Total	89
Wins	77
By knockout	58
Losses	8
By knockout	1
Draws	4
Kickboxing record
Total	7
Wins	3
By knockout	2
Losses	4
By knockout	2
MMA record
Total	21
Wins	13
By knockout	5
By submission	9
Losses	7
By knockout	1
By submission	4
Draws	1
Other information
Boxing record from Boxrec
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Butterbean (born Eric Scott Esch on August 3, 1968 in Bay City, Michigan) is a professional heavyweight boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist commonly referred to as "Butterbean". He stands 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) tall and weighs 416 pounds (188 kg).[3]

He is the former IBA World Super-Heavyweight Champion and also held the WAA World Heavyweight title.[4] Esch's round body, bald head and vicious scowl make him a menacing (yet highly entertaining) fight figure, along with his sporting of American flag trunks. His combined professional fight record currently stands at 90 wins with 63 knockouts, 17 losses and 5 draws. Butterbean currently resides in Jasper, Alabama where he owns a restaurant, Mr Bean BBQ.[5]

Contents 1 Fighting career 1.1 Boxing 1.2 Mixed Martial Arts 2 Personal life 3 Mixed Martial Arts Record 4 Kickboxing Record 4.1 WWF appearances 5 Media appearances 5.1 Movies 5.2 Television 5.3 Radio 5.4 Video games 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Fighting career

[edit] Boxing

Known as the "King of 4 rounders", Butterbean developed a cult following after he burst onto the Toughman Contest scene in in Texarkana, AR before entering the world of professional boxing in 1994. He was a five time World Toughman Heavyweight Champion with a record of 56-5 with 36 knockouts (not counted towards pro career).

While a majority of his opponents were technically limited club-level fighters early in his career, he did move up the ranks to win the IBA World Super-Heavyweight Championship on April 12, 1997 (which he never lost before relinquishing the title). Butterbean faced former WBC and IBF World Champion Larry Holmes in 2002, and while Holmes won a unanimous 10-round decision, Butterbean was credited with a controversial knockdown in the final round; the announcers had said it was a slip. Esch's most recent title shot came on October 15, 2005 when he lost a split decision against George Linberger for the NABC Super-Heavyweight title (whom Esch had beaten in March 2000 in his final defense of the IBA title, taking Linberger's WAA World Heavyweight title).

Esch's professional boxing record is 77 wins with 58 knockouts, 7 losses and 4 draws. He won his last boxing match against Joe Siciliano, which occurred on March 9, 2007 at the Palladium.^[1]. That same night, Esch's son, Brandon "Babybean", lost in his professional debut against Matthew Eckerly.^[2]

Esch lost via 1st round KO for the EBF World Title against Mark Potter at the Syndicte Nightclub in Blackpool, England on the 14th September 2008. This fight has not been recorded on boxrec or any other site of the same nature so has not been noted on his boxing record, as Potter was not licensed at the time.

On October 3, 2009 Esch lost a four rounds split decision to Harry Funmaker whom he earlier beat on two occasions. After the bout he announced his retirement.^[3]

[edit] Mixed Martial Arts

Butterbean's previous fighting experiences led him to venture into mixed martial arts. At K-1 Premium 2003 on December 31, 2003, Butterbean lost his first MMA bout to 155 lbs Japanese fighter Genki Sudo via tap out to a heel hook. Esch regrouped, going 6-0-1 in appearances in King of the Cage, Gracie Fightfest, and Rumble on the Rock including a TKO stoppage of Cabbage Correira. Esch returned to Japan with the PRIDE Fighting Championships on August 26, 2006 to compete at Bushido 12 against Ikuhisa Minowa, a 185 lbs fighter, to whom he lost via armbar at 4:25 of round one. Less than two months later, Butterbean was scheduled to fight K-1 legend Mark Hunt at Pride FC's first North American show on October 21, 2006. Due to an injury Hunt sustained in training, Esch was matched up against Irish-American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist Sean O'Haire, whom he defeated via knockout at 30 seconds in the first round.

Besides his two submission losses to much smaller opponents (Genki Sudo and Ikuhisa Minowa), Butterbean's only other loss came to then Cage Rage World Heavyweight Champion Rob Broughton. On February 10, Butterbean rebounded by knocking out James Thompson 43 seconds into the first round at Cage Rage 20. Butterbean then defeated Zuluzinho via submission at PRIDE 34 on April 8, 2007. Although he's been overweight throughout his career, at the time of the fight, Esch weighed an astonishing 407 pounds (185 kg) to match his opponent's weight, who also weighs 185 kg but is 8 inches (20 centimeters) taller.

Butterbean's next fight was on July 14 against current Cage Rage World Heavyweight Champion Tengiz Tedoradze at Cage Rage 22, 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 (Esch vs Villareal was the only viable main event).[6] He was then scheduled 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.[7] Esch most recently defeated Tom Howard by submission around 4:47 in the first round in an exhibition in his hometown of Jasper, Alabama. His youngest son Caleb (19) who lost that night, along with his oldest son Brandon "Babybean" Esch (22) making his Pro mma debut also winning, via 22 second TKO. Bean recently lost to Nick Penner. [8]

Butterbean's MMA record is currently 11 wins (4 knockouts and 7 submissions), 7 losses and 1 draw. He is training with American Top Team to improve his ground game.

[edit] Personal life

Eric is married and has three children: sons Brandon and Caleb, and daughter, Grace.^[4]

[edit] Mixed Martial Arts Record

13 Wins - 7 Losses - 1 Draw (4 KO's)
Date	Result	Record	Opponent	Event	Method	Round, Time
12/11/2009				Moosin: Ultimate Cage Fighting
9/09/2009	Win	13-7-1	Tom Howard	Extreme Cage Fighting	Submission (Neck Crank)	Round 1, 1:40
04/11/2008	Loss	12-7-1	Pat Smith	YAMMA Pit Fighting 1	Submission (Strikes)	Round 1, 3:17
02/09/2008	Loss	12-6-1	Matt Blaine	MMA Event in Muskegon	Submission (Injury)	Round 2, 1:05
12/28/2007	Loss	12-5-1	Nick Penner	TFC: First Blood	Submission (Armlock)	Round 1, 2:47
12/01/2007	Win	12-4-1	Tom Howard	The Final Chapter MMA- A&A Arena Jasper	Submission (Armlock)	Round 1, 4:47
10/13/2007	Win	11-4-1	Pete Sischo	Combat Warfare X	Submission (Keylock)	Round 3, 2:35
07/14/2007	Loss	10-4-1	Tengiz Tedoradze	Cage Rage 22	TKO (Punches)	Round 1, 4:26
04/08/2007	Win	10-3-1	Zuluzinho	PRIDE 34: Kamikaze	Submission (Keylock)	Round 1, 2:35
02/10/2007	Win	9-3-1	James Thompson	Cage Rage 20: Born 2 Fight	KO	Round 1, 0:43
01/18/2007	Win	8-3-1	Charles Hodges	Palace Fighting Championships: King of the Ring	KO (Right Punch)	Round 1, 0:45
12/09/2006	Loss	7-3-1	Rob Broughton	Cage Rage 19: Fearless	Submission (Tap To Strikes)	Round 2, 3:43
10/21/2006	Win	7-2-1	Sean O'Haire	PRIDE 32: Real Deal	TKO (Punches)	Round 1, 0:29
08/26/2006	Loss	6-2-1	Ikuhisa Minowa	PRIDE Bushido 12	Submission (Armbar)	Round 1, 4:25
07/15/2006	Win	6-1-1	Rich Weeks	Fightfest 5: Korea vs USA	Submission	Round 1, 1:29
05/20/2006	Win	5-1-1	Matt Eckerle	Fightfest 4	Submission	Round 1, 0:56
04/21/2006	Win	4-1-1	Aaron Aguilera	Rumble on the Rock 9	Submission (Choke)	Round 2, 1:15
04/14/2006	Win	3-1-1	Leo Sylvest	Fightfest 2: Global Domination	Submission (Choke)	Round 1, ?:??
01/20/2006	Win	2-1-1	Wesley Correira	Rumble on the Rock 8	TKO (Doctor Stoppage)	Round 2, 5:00
12/09/2005	Win	1-1-1	Walley Keenboom	Fightfest 1: Royce Gracie Fightfest	Submission	Round 1, 2:37
02/25/2005	Draw	0-1-1	Michael Buchkovich	King of the Cage: Payback	Draw	Round 2, 5:00
12/31/2003	Loss	0-1	Genki Sudo	K-1 Premium 2003 Dynamite	Submission (Heel Hook)	Round 2, 0:41

[edit] Kickboxing Record

Butterbean ventured into the sport of kickboxing in 2003. His first bout was a 1st round knockout of two-time K-1 World Champion Yusuke Fujimoto at K-1 Beast. Most recently he beat Bo Lam Moon in the first round by KO. His record currently stands at 3 wins 4 losses.

3 Wins - 4 Losses - 0 Draw (2 KO's)
Date	Result	Record	Opponent	Event	Method	Round, Time
07/29/2009	Win	3-4	Bo Lam Moon	Moosin II	KO (Right punch)	Round 1
08/09/2008	Loss	2-4	Wesley Correira	K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii	KO (Left high kick)	Round 2
07/29/2005	Win	2-3	Marcus Royster	K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii	Decision 3-0	Round 3
06/26/2004	Loss	1-3	Montanha Silva	K-1 Beast 2004 in Shizuoka	Decision 0-3	Round 3
03/14/2004	Loss	1-2	Hiromi Amada	K-1 Beast 2004 in Niigata	Decision 0-3	Round 3
09/21/2003	Loss	1-1	Mike Bernardo	K-1 Survival 2003 Japan Grand Prix Final	KO (Right High Kick)	Round 2, 1:01
06/29/2003	Win	1-0	Yusuke Fujimoto	K-1 Beast II 2003	KO	Round 1, 1:02

[edit] WWF appearances

Butterbean has appeared twice in WWF events competing in boxing matches. In 1997, at the In Your House 19: D-Generation X pay-per-view event, he defeated Marc Mero (former Golden Gloves champion) via disqualification in a worked match. Two years later, Butterbean defeated Bart Gunn in a legitimate shootfight at WrestleMania XV, defeating the Brawl For All champion with ease, knocking him out in 27 seconds.^[5]

[edit] Media appearances

[edit] Movies

Butterbean appeared in the film Jackass: The Movie, where he fought Johnny Knoxville in a department store, where Knoxville was floored by Esch and received several stitches in his head after the encounter (the camera catches the concussed Knoxville snoring). However, it is obvious in the movie that Butterbean gives Knoxville several rabbit punches as Knoxville was going down (he even says to Knoxville "You haven't even hit me,hit me once at least" and offers his cheek, which is punched before he retaliates). While being treated by on-scene medical personnel, a badly beaten (and groggy) Johnny Knoxville asks "Is Butterbean okay?" On the DVD commentary, Knoxville stated that Esch is actually quite friendly outside of the ring, despite his fearsome ringside demeanor. Prior to the skit, Johnny asked Butterbean to go "all out on him." Butterbean stated, "I can't do that, Johnny." When Knoxville repeated himself, Butterbean then replied, "Johnny you don't have to beg." Knoxville then claimed he knew he was in trouble.

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.

[edit] Television

Butterbean appeared on Adult Swim's Squidbillies where he sang the national anthem, very poorly, and ended up beating up a fan for not taking off his hat.

Butterbean also appeared on CMT's Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling television show, on Team Beefcake.

[edit] Radio

Butterbean also fought Dominic Dieter of Rover's Morning Glory, in Cleveland, Ohio. See video at [9]

[edit] Video games

Butterbean was featured as the cover character as well as the final boss character in the EA Sports title Toughman Contest released in July 1995 for the Sega Genesis and Sega 32X.[10] He also appeared as a playable character in all of the EA Sports boxing video games in the Knockout Kings series.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Professional boxing record for Eric Esch from Boxrec
• Professional MMA record for Eric Esch from Sherdog
• PRIDE Fighter Bio
• K-1 Fighter Bio
• Eric Esch at the Internet Movie Database
• Oct 30 2008 Audio Interview with In Your Head
• Interview recap

Preceded by Ed White

IBA Super Heavyweight Champion 1997-04-12 – 2000 (Vacated)

Succeeded by ? filled vacancy