Eric Scott "Butterbean" Esch (born August 3, 1968 in Bay City, Michigan) is a professional Super-Heavyweight boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Butterbean stands 5 ft 11 in (180cm) tall and weighs 416 pounds (183 kg).

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 tap out to a 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 of Cabbage Correira. Esch returned to Japan with the PRIDE Fighting Championships on August 26, 2006 to compete at 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 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 (185 kg) to match his opponent's weight, who also weighs 185 kg 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. 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. Esch most recently defeated Tom Howard by submission around 4:47 in the first round in an exhibition in his hometown of Jasper, Alabama. His youngest son Caleb (19) also won that night, along with his oldest son Brandon Esch "Babybean" (22) making his Pro mma debut also winning, via 22 second TKO. Bean recently lost to Nick Penner.