Did you know Butterbean fought MMA?

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Eric Esch, much better known as "Butterbean" is really well known for being the "King of the 4 rounders" in boxing exhibitions that were more of a novelty than any sort of championship-level boxing.

Then near 400 pound super-heavyweight isn't exactly known for his endurance (how could he be?) but he certainly has a lot of power in his overhand right. I have only seen a few of his fights and the most exciting one is probably the fight he had with Johnny Knoxville in a department store.

Anyway, I was stunned to find out that this behemoth actually fought in MMA for over 8 years and somehow managed to have a winning record.

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Now I have never heard of any of his opponents or even most of the organizations that he had contracts with. One of the groups he fought with was Cage Rage Championships and this was a good place for "Bean" to be because they have a rule that any action that goes to the ground has to be stood back up after 15 seconds regardless of the action that is going on. I think that it is easy to understand that a 390 pound round fella like Eric Esch probably experiences difficulty getting up at all, let alone when someone is lying on top of him.

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Believe it or not, 7 of his 15 victories were from submissions. I found this very shocking as did the big man's ability to throw knees in the clinch. I would imagine that his knees, if he can land them, would hurt substantially more than a normal sized human's seeing as how one of his legs probably weighs as much as a small adult.

Time after time in the ring, Butterbean would be faced with someone who appeared to be in top physical form and you kind of felt bad for Eric Esch when the fight began because almost everyone that he was against had a reach and mobility advantage.

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Take this guy, for example. His name is James Thompson. He is nearly a foot taller than Butterbean and has victories over Dan Severn and Don Frye (not in his prime, to be fair.) You would have thought, especially once James landed a strong leg kick on Bean, that this was going to be a very one-sided affair and perhaps a bit embarrassing for the big man.

Yeah well Butterbean knocked James out in the first round.

I wouldn't exactly call Bean's fights super-exciting, but I am just extremely impressed at the guy's cardio. He slows down a bit as fights carry on as you would expect, but for the most part he matches speed with these guys and most of them are 100 pounds lighter than he is.


from the official UFC and MMA channel

I wouldn't watch all of that video if I were you, because there is an awful lot of hugging going on. It is worth a scan though so you can see how Bean doesn't gas out like you would expect a near 400 pound person to do.

He hasn't fought in MMA since 2011 and that is completely understandable since he had 2 losses in a row after winning the super-heavyweight title in relatively unknown promotion Elite 1. He is now in his 50's and I think for the most part his fighting days are behind him.

I imagine he would have been a big draw for UFC if they would have had him but there is a very real reason why that never happened: Eric "Butterbean" Esch is 120 pounds over the maximum weight allowed in the heaviest division that exists in UFC.

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I've always considered Butterbean to be a carnival side-show at best rather than an actual fighter but I suppose by joining the ranks of what I consider to be the world's toughest combat sport, he definitely proved me wrong!



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I've always considered Butterbean to be a carnival side-show at best rather than an actual fighter but I suppose by joining the ranks of what I consider to be the world's toughest combat sport, he definitely proved me wrong!

That may be true as he's fighting and winning apparently, or it's a game of win some, lose some as it happens in any sport. I'm not against him fighting, however I find it totally wrong. Imagine what kind of message he is sending. "I'm around 400 and can still do this."

Imagine what kind of pressure he's putting on his heart and body as well. He may be alright for now but the human body is not designed to do this.

Sumo wrestlers are is a similar situation to a certain point as they are also fighting but their fight is different.

I'm against this kind of fight shows as it's totally unhealthy. I'm against fights in general but associated with obesity and thinking it's right ... It's not good. Not good at all.

Imagine how much calories he can burn training and fighting. Why not use that to get healthy?

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it is odd that he never loses weight because he clearly has stamina and is quite light on his feet considering his weight. but it may be intentional on his part. The big part of the reason why he is an attraction is because he is so huge.

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Wow I actually know Butterbean from the Jackass but didn't knew this, I'm from Asia by the way so that's probably the reason. Looks like he was competitive

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I remember when this guy came on the scene. They used to do some tough man competitions in a city near me and I remember that he was there before he really went mainstream. He was kind of a gimmick draw at the time. The truth is whether it was all muscle or fat or whatever, the dude could take a hit. He could absorb the damage like a beast and then throw it back at you. I wouldn't want to try to get out of any mount from this guy be it full or half. Nice post!

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yeah i think that he could just lie on top of most of his opponents and not even try to hit them.... they would just feel the full grunt of half a Volkswagen sitting on top of them.

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I remember him appearing in the Jackass movie.. Other than that, I saw him boxing a few times. Heck of a boxing career. I bet his baby pictures look very similar to these.. minus the fighting.. haha.

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Funny enough I didn't know he was a proper boxer until well after I knew about him from Play Station. He was the tricky one to get past in one of the games who had immense punching power. I think he was more of a showman than a boxer really as how can you take him seriously. I had no idea he was an MMA fighter and to be honest he shouldn't have done very well. There is no ways he could stop a kick to the head as he was just too slow in his movements. His punches were rapid, but MMA has proven that boxers are not great all round fighters.

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i knew he had a fight or two but didn't know he spent 8 years in it. I watched the video and those seem like pretty good crowds too

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Howdy gooddream! Very interesting. I didn't know about Butterbean but he's an interesting fighter, moves pretty darn good for someone that big. He's so big he's hard to hurt! The size of that neck, wow. lol.

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