Butterbean Setting the Stage for a Fight with Pudzianowski
It didn't take long for Moosin USA promoter Eric "Butterbean" Esch to go into damage control when he saw his potential October 9 main event slip through his fingertips.

A day sfter Sherdog's Loretta Hunt quashed Moosin executive Corey Fischer's claim in a report by MMAFighting that the promotion was finalizing a marquee bout between Kimbo Slice and Mariusz Pudzianowski for the planned Chicago show, Butterbean has spun the situation in a press release sent out by the organization earlier today.

You don't need a PR degree (like I spent three years foolishly obtaining) to know that most companies don't send out press releases criticizing one of its employees unless it does something that makes economic sense for the organization. Even then, press releases are supposed to inform the media of things that are "press worthy," and Butterbean's opinion alone does not qualify unless you look at the bigger picture that is being intimated.

The headline read "Butterbean’ rips Pudzianowski" and the release goes on to explain how unworthy Esche thinks "The Dominator" is of being on a "big show" like Moosin at this point in his young 2-1 mixed martial arts career. Ironic, don't ya' think, considering Esche fought Genki Sudo in his first MMA fight in K-1 Dynamite with six months sprawl training with American Top Team.

They pull the old good-cop bad-cop routine by stating that Moosin officials feel Pudz has a ton of potential and is even training with "Irish" Mickey Ward and some "All America wrestlers" through the summer, but Butterbean counterpoints the lovefest with some harsh words for "The World's Strongest Man."


“I know he allegedly broke his foot in the fight against Sylvia,” Butterbean criticized Pudzianowski, “but he didn’t show anything before he quit. Pudzianowski has no stand-up and as strong as he is, he punches like a girl. All he does is throw arm punches. He needs a lot of help. He’s the 5-time World’s Strongest Man but hits like a 130-pounder, not a strong man who weighs 270 pounds. He doesn’t have the skill level to get to the level he wants to fight. Once he gets a stand-up game – you can’t have a ground game working without one – he could be a force in MMA. He still needs some work on his ground game, too. We all know he’s very strong but that’s not enough at the highest level of MMA. I don’t know who has been coaching him but that trainer should be fired. Pudzianowski needs to prove himself, showing he has a good stand-up game by beating a good MMA fighter, before he gets another big fight like a spot on the October 9th show.”

So who do you have in mind for him to face, Bean? How about a former boxer-turned MMA freakshow fighter like... say... YOU? I can't believe you didn't think about it yourself.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with the card. I could be dead wrong. Maybe Pudzianowski is playing hardball with the promotion and wants more than the ridiculous $110,000 he got for losing handily to Tim Sylvia in his last Moosin fight. By the way, Sylvia made $50,000 -- a far cry from the $800,000 payday he had when he lost to Fedor, but still a decent chunk of change for a guy who's 2-3 in his past five fights.

Whether or not Pudzianowski fights on the card, the event will still have plenty of freakshow appeal with the Tim Sylvia vs. Hong Man Choi bout among others.
-Cage Potato