Eric Esch gets a kick out of Muay Thai

Watching the 300-plus-plus-plus-pounder lift his legs to attempt Muay Thai knee strikes is sort of amusing to the viewer, but likely not for the recipient of Butterbean’s blows.

The megaweight boxer, known to friends and family as Eric Esch, has been trying his hand at mixed martial arts lately, and will get in an octagon on Aug. 12 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He will face Michael Fritz in the co-main event, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reports.

“Fort Wayne has become really big as far as MMA is concerned,” promoter Jim Logan said. “A lot of people think MMA is violent. Some don’t consider it a sport. There are rules. There’s no eye-gouging. You can’t knee or kick someone in the head when they are on the canvas. The refs are all qualified. We have judges. Physicians are at ringside. The same things are required for boxing events. This has really gotten big. It’s passed boxing.”

Former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes will also appear, signing autographs and posing for pictures, the paper says.

“That was one reason why we brought him in,” Logan said. “We want to make this a huge sports event. I want to get the biggest names possible.”

“Butterbean has a huge fan base. He’s moved over to MMA. This is his fifth or sixth cage match,” Logan said.

The thought of Butterbean mounting some poor sap and dropping elbow strikes down on his noggin is enough to make me shudder…