Butterbean's MMA run ended with a 54-second defeat to a 40-year-old Taekwondo instructor.
The boxing icon – real name Eric Esch – switched to MMA in 2003 and enjoyed some success when he scored a spectacular KO win over a 6ft 7in heavyweight known as 'The Colossus'.
However, Butterbean also suffered some humiliating losses. The 6-foot-4, 400-pound heavyweight was dropkicked and submitted by a man 200 pounds lighter than him in 2006. Four years later he tapped in a collision with five-time 'World's Strongest Man' Mariusz Pudzianowski.
An October 2011 fight with Sandy Bowman at Prestige Fighting Championship 3 turned out to be his last.
Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
The story of Butterbean's last MMA fight
Bowman boasted a 2-0 MMA record leading up to his fight with Butterbean, which came from a desire to save the Prestige Fighting Championship, which was in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.
The idea was to lure a big name that was 'almost unbeatable' to Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.
“Win or lose, people were going to come to the event,” Bowman told CBC News in 2021.
Butterbean tipped the scales at 377 pounds, dwarfing his 209-pound opponent, who seemed destined for a KO.
However, things didn't work out that way. Bowman connected with a clean head kick within the first 30 seconds before following Butterbean to the ground and overwhelming him with ground strikes until he tapped out within the first minute of the first round.
“Crazy. I'm just over the moon,” Bowman said during a post-fight interview with Top MMA News.
“As soon as I hit him, his eyes rolled back and I was like, 'Thanks!'
Where are they now?
Bowman left MMA with a perfect 3-0 professional record after defeating Butterbean.
He has since been appointed mayor of Wood Buffalo, a position he holds today and has held for the past three years.
The man he defeated returned to boxing and continued competing for a few more years before hanging up his gloves in 2013. Butterbean retired from all martial arts after 126 fights in boxing, kickboxing and MMA.
During his time on the sidelines, Butterbean's weight ballooned to 515 pounds. The 58-year-old feared it could become a fatal problem, so he underwent a dramatic body transformation that saw him lose more than 200 pounds.
Today he tips the scales at around 300 pounds, which is what he weighed during his peak years as a fighter.
“It changed my life, it really did,” Butterbean said of his body transformation.
“To be honest, I thought I had a few years left to live. I'm not bull*******.
“I really forgot who I was, and I pretty much gave up on life.
“Now I believe in myself again. Butterbean is back for another battle.”
In the past, a Butterbean comeback would have been nearly impossible. However, Mike Tyson is the same age as him and his recent fight with Jake Paul attracted 60 million people to Netflix.
Now it's just a matter of finding the right opponent for Butterbean's final hurrah.
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