Eric Scott Esch (born August 3, 1966), better known by his nickname "Butterbean",^[4] is an American retired professional boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler who competed in the heavyweight division. He is also a television personality, having appeared in several programs and been referenced by many others. 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 (WAA) 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 97–24–5 with 67 knockouts and 10 submissions.

Esch was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but at age four he and his family moved to St. Johns, Michigan, only to move again at eleven years old to Jasper, Alabama with his family. 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, with training in Bay City, Michigan. He went on to win the tournament and begin his career in fight sports.^[5]

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.^[6] He received the nickname "Butterbean" when he was forced to go on a diet (consisting mostly of chicken and butterbeans) in order to meet the Toughman 400 pound (181 kg) weight limit under the new age trainer Prozay Buell “the better Buell”.^[7]

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 a string of wins, mostly by knockout, before being stopped in two rounds by Mitchell Rose on December 15, 1995. Butterbean went on the road, around the United States, winning 51 consecutive matches, including 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.

After his five-year winning streak was brought to an end with a majority decision defeat by 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, which was later shown in filmed replays as not being a knockdown, no punch having landed, and it was a slip; and Holmes only reeled against the ropes. This was one of only three fights in a 109 fight career that was scheduled for more than four rounds.^[9]

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.^[5] 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.^[10]

In his first mixed martial arts bout, 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 (240 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 dropkick 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.^[11] 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.^[12] Butterbean lost his third consecutive K-1 match at K-1 Beast 2004 in Shizuoka on June 26, 2004, losing to 225 cm (7 ft 5 in) 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.^[13]

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^[14] via disqualification in a worked match. 15 months later, Butterbean defeated WWF Brawl For All champion Bart Gunn^[14] in a legitimate shootfight at WrestleMania XV on March 28, 1999, knocking his opponent out in 34 seconds.

In 2009 he returned to professional wrestling on the independent circuit. He defeated Trent Acid for the Pro Wrestling Syndicate Heavyweight title on May 29, 2009 in Garfield, New Jersey. Nearly a year later he dropped to the title to Kevin Matthews on May 9, 2010. Also he wrestled for Juggalo Championship Wrestling. On March 31, 2012 he defeated Cliff Compton at the event WrestleRama Guyana in Georgetown, Guyana.

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.^[15] 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 shoot wrestler known for his willingness to face much larger opponents, to whom he lost via armbar submission at 4:25 of round one.^[16]

Butterbean was set to fight Mark Hunt at the promotion's first North American show, Pride 32 in Las Vegas on October 21, 2006^[17] 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" Filipović gave him an unfair mat advantage.^[18] Pride had stated that "visa issues" were preventing Hunt from competing in the bout,^[19] 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 Esch TKO'd him in under thirty seconds.^[20]

Departing Pride briefly to compete in Cage Rage, 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.^[21] He then rebounded with a forty-three second knockout of James Thompson at Cage Rage 20 on February 10, 2007.^[22]

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 kg (407 lb) (although the Brazilian was 20 cm (8 in) taller). 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.^[23]

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 (Esch vs. Villareal was the only viable main event).^[24] 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.^[25]

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.^[26][27]

Esch lost via first-round KO for the EBF title against Mark Potter at the Syndicate 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 professional 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.^[28][29] 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.^[30]

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.^[31]

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 second round.^[32]

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. He described the genesis of the show:

Esch hoped the show would help the cause of law enforcement:

The show was not renewed for a second season.

Butterbean appeared in the film Jackass: The Movie, in a public stunt: an arranged fight with Johnny Knoxville in a department store. After the fight began, Knoxville fell, got up, was asked by Butterbean to hit him at least once. Knoxville did so, was easily knocked to the floor by Esch, and received several stitches in his head after the encounter (the camera appears to show Knoxville snoring, but Knoxville stated in an interview with Vanity Fair that he was actually trying to swallow his tongue as a result of being knocked out^[35]). After waking up, a groggy Knoxville jokingly asked if Butterbean survived the fight. 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 film's star Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson.

Butterbean appeared on Adult Swim's Squidbillies, where he sang the national anthem, finally 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 (2010). The episode, which aired on October 5, 2010, was entitled "Date Night".

In June 2013, Butterbean was interviewed in Australia on Fox Sports programme, Monday Nights with Matty Johns.

Butterbean appeared on TruTV's Friends of the People in a sketch as "Dr. Butterbean", using his sweet science boxing skills as an anesthesiologist. The Season 2 Episode 7 was entitled "Great White Haters".

On July 16, 2005, Butterbean fought Dieter of Rover's Morning Glory, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, in a bout billed as "War on the Shore".^[36]

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.^[37] He also appeared as a playable character in all of the EA Sports boxing video games in the Knockout Kings series. In the 2007 PC game The Witcher, the main character can challenge a tavern fistfighter (with a body structure similar to that of Esch) by the name of Butter Bean during the second chapter of the game. Butterbean is a playable fighter in EA's fifth installment of the Fight Night series Fight Night Champion.

Esch is married with Libby Gaskin and has three children: sons Brandon and Caleb, who are both mixed martial artists, and daughter Grace.^[38]