Rose would later claim that representatives of Top Rank Boxing approached him the night before the fight and offered him five thousand dollars to throw the match.

Esch never defeated an actively ranked heavyweight contender by any of the four major boxing organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO).

In a 1999 interview with the LA Times, Bob Arum explained: "I came up with the idea to make him 'King of the Four-Rounders' and got (IBA commissioner) Dean Chance to give him a belt as champion of the nonexistent super heavyweight division."

[9] Esch 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.

[12] Butterbean lost his third consecutive K-1 match at K-1 Beast 2004 in Shizuoka on June 26, 2004, losing to 210.82 cm (6 ft 11.00 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 quarterfinals.

Despite the win, Esch 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.

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, Esch 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.

On April 1, 2011, Esch teamed with Officer Adam Hadder in a tag-team match against One Man Kru and WWE Hall of Famer Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake in a charity wrestling event taped for an episode of Big Law: Deputy Butterbean, a reality show which aired on Investigation Discovery.

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.

[16] Esch 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.

Esch reversed him, landing several hammer shots before finally submitting Zuluzinho with a key lock at 2:35 of the opening round.

[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 quarterfinals 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 September 14, 2008.

[citation needed] Esch 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.

[citation needed] Esch lost in a first round TKO (submission) to Jeff Kugel on March 6, 2010, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, in an MMA bout for Xtreme Cagefighting Championship 46: Beatdown at the Ballroom 9 in a devastating :40 second pummeling.

[citation needed] 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.

[30] Esch next took on up-and-coming super heavyweight Deon West at the LFC 43: Wild Thang MMA internet pay-per-view on October 12, 2010.

[citation needed] Esch 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.

Since his successful hip surgery in 2022, Esch has openly expressed a desire to return to professional boxing, although none of his proposed matches (including fights with Jake Paul and Mike Tyson) have any official plans to take place.

In 2024, DDP Yoga released Butterbean's Comeback - One More Fight, a video montage chronicling Esch's achievements & transformative recovery.

Esch appeared in the film Jackass: The Movie, in a public stunt: an arranged fight with Johnny Knoxville in a department store.

[citation needed] Esch appeared on Adult Swim's Squidbillies, where he sang the national anthem, finally beating up a fan for not taking off his hat.

[citation needed] Esch appeared on CMT's Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling television show, on Team Beefcake.

[citation needed] In June 2013, Esch was interviewed in Australia on Fox Sports programme, Monday Nights with Matty Johns.

[citation needed] Esch appeared on TruTV's Friends of the People in a sketch as "Dr. Butterbean", using his sweet science boxing skills as an anesthesiologist.

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