Butterbean looked back on what could have been MMA career for his 28-Vecht.
The heavyweight boxing legend – real name Eric Esch – made its name in the square circle.
However, Butterbean also fought against a number of big names from the world of MMA before his run in the sport ended by a main loss of Kick Ko for a Taekwondo instructor who became a politician in October 2011.
The 58-year-old fought for all Big MMA promotions, except the UFC, because of a rule that he calls 'crazy'.
Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty images
Butterbean explains why he never fought for the UFC
The UFC heavyweight weight limit is 266 pounds for a non-title fight, while those who compete for MMA's ultimate price must come in 1 pound lighter.
During his peak years, Butterbean weighed between 350 pounds and 400 pounds, so he did not qualify for a UFC call-up.
Now he is able to make the UFC heavyweight limit after completing a remarkable body transformation of 220 pounds after the balloon of up to 500 pounds after his retirement in 2013.
“I had almost 50 MMA fights in total,” said Butterbean during an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow.
“I fought in Pride, K1 and Cage Rage. I fought in almost all except the UFC because they have this crazy rule that you have to be less than 265 pounds. Come on, boys.
“Now I could get there. I am now at 280 pounds and I could go to 260 if they let me fight.
“But with my new hips I can't fight UFC.”
Butterbean did not train for the famous MMA victory
Butterbean proved himself in MMA with a KO of 43 seconds against a 6ft 5 in 'Colossus' in 2007.
James Thompson retired in 2017, with a record of 39 fights, including victories on the famous referee Marc Goddard, UFC legend Dan Severn, WWE superster Bobby Lashley and five times 'World's strong man' Mariusz Pudzianowski.
The Englishman was known for leaving his fights, but that didn't always work well for him.
Butterbean hit him in a shocking upset when they fought at Cage Rage 20 in London, England.
18 years later, the American Ko machine announced that he did not even train for his fight with Thompson.
“James Thompson was really a cool guy,” said Butterbean. It was really a tough challenge for me.
“The strange thing is that at the time in my life I hardly started to believe in myself, and I didn't train as I should have done. I never even got into the gym for my fight with James Thompson.
“If I had trained before that fight, it would have been faster than the first round.”