Name Eric Esch
Nickname Butterbean
Association American Top Team
Weight Class Super Heavyweight (350 lbs.)
Height 5′ 11″ (181 cm)
Style Boxing
Birth Date August 3, 1968
Fighting Out Of Jasper, Alabama
Country USA
Eric Esch Pictures Official Website

”’Eric Scott “Butterbean” Esch”’ is an American professional Super-Heavyweight boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist.

== Professional Record ==

Record 14 – 9 – 1 (Win â€Â“ Loss â€Â“ Draw)
Wins 6 (T)KOs
8 Submissions
0 Decisions
Losses 1 (T)KOs
8 Submissions
0 Decisions
Result Opponent Method Event Title Date Round Time Notes
Loss Eric Barrak Submission (Guillotine Choke) Instinct MMA: Instinct Fighting 1 10/07/2011 3 2:56
Win Dean Storey TKO (Punches) Elite 1: High Voltage 5/07/2011 2 0:24
Loss Mariusz Pudzianowski Submission (Punches) KSW 14: Judgment Day 9/18/2010 1 1:16
Loss Jeffrey Kugel Submission (Punches) XCC 46: Beatdown at the Ballroom 9 3/06/2010 1 0:40
Win Chris Cruit Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Moosin: God of Martial Arts 12/11/2009 1 1:38
Win Tom Howard Submission (Neck Crank) Extreme Cage Fighting 9/09/2009 1 1:40
Win Jefferson Hook TKO (Punches) LDIL: Lockdown in Lowell 6/26/2009 1 N/A
Loss Patrick Smith Submission (Punches and Elbows) YAMMA Pit Fighting 1 4/11/2008 1 3:17 YAMMA “Masters” bout
Loss Nick Penner Submission (Strikes) TFC: First Blood 12/28/2007 1 2:28
Loss Tengiz Tedoradze TKO (Punches) CR 22: Hard as Hell 7/14/2007 1 4:26
Win Wagner da Conceicao Martins Submission (Keylock) Pride 34 Kamikaze 4/08/2007 1 2:35
Win James Thompson KO (Punches) CR 20: Born 2 Fight 2/10/2007 1 0:43
Win Charles Hodges KO (Punch) PFC 1 King of the Ring 1/18/2007 1 0:45
Loss Rob Broughton Submission (Punches) CR 19: Fearless 12/09/2006 2 3:43
Win [[Sean O’Haire]] TKO (Punches) Pride 32 The Real Deal 10/21/2006 1 0:29
Loss Ikuhisa Minowa Submission (Armbar) Pride Bushido 12 8/26/2006 1 4:25
Win Rich Weeks Submission FF 5: Korea vs USA 7/15/2006 1 1:29
Win Matt Eckerle Submission FF 4: Fightfest 4 5/20/2006 1 0:56
Win Aaron Aguilera Submission (Choke) ROTR 9: Rumble on the Rock 9 4/21/2006 2 1:15
Win Leo Sylvest Submission (Choke) FF 2: Fightfest 2 4/14/2006 1 N/A
Win Wesley Correira TKO (Doctor Stoppage) ROTR 8: Rumble on the Rock 8 1/20/2006 2 5:00
Win Walley Keenboom Submission FF 1: Royce Gracie Fightfest 12/09/2005 1 2:37
Draw Michael Buchkovich Draw KOTC Payback 2/25/2005 2 5:00
Loss Genki Sudo Submission (Heel Hook) K-1: Premium 2003 Dynamite!! 12/31/2003 2 0:41

==Fighting Career==
===Boxing===
Known as the “King of 4 Rounders”, Butterbean developed a cult following after he burst onto the Toughman Contest scene in the United States 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, which were not counted toward his professional 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. Esch had beaten George 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. That same night, Esch’s son, Brandon “Babybean”, lost in his professional debut against Matthew Eckerly.

Esch lost via 1st round KO for the EBF World Title against Mark Potter at the Syndicte Nightclub in Blackpool, England on September 14, 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.

===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 Submission (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 over Cabbage Correira. Esch returned to Japan with PRIDE Fighting Championships on August 26, 2006 to compete at Pride 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 to match his opponent’s weight, who also weighs 407 punds 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 (Punches). 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). 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.

Butterbean is training with American Top Team to improve his ground game. Sherdog Power Ratings has Esch ranked as the #5 Super-Heavyweight in the world across all MMA organizations after his loss to Tedoradze.

==Media Appearances==
===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. Esch even says to Knoxville “C’mon, hit me at least once” and offers his cheek, which is punched before he retaliates. While being treated by on-scene medical personnel, a badly beaten and slightly concussed 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.

===Television===
Butterbean appeared on Adult Swim’s Squidbillies where he sang the national athem very poorly, and ended up beating a fan for making fun of him.

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

===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. He also appeared as a playable character in the EA Sports boxing video game Knockout Kings 2001.

==Personal Life==
Eric is married and has three children: sons Brandon and Caleb, and daughter, Grace. He currently resides in Jasper, Alabama where he owns a restaurant called Mr Bean BBQ.