"At the end of the day, we want to have the best gym in the world...you name it and we got it. It's like a NFL training facility for MMA fighters. We have dorms 100 yards away where fighters can come and stay in dorms and train for 3-month training camps. They can actually come and live there for $200 a month to live there. That includes your electric, your gas, and all utilities; it's 200 bucks. You room with someone else, just like in college, or you can have your own room for $400. You train, eat, sleep MMA. For guys coming in from across the world, or for guys that just want to come in and learn mixed martial arts; we have beginner classes for those guys and girls...I hope everyone comes to check it out, or if you're just in the area for a week, you can come check it out for a week for free," stated Jesse Finney, owner of the H.I.T. Squad Gym as he talked about their state-of-the-art facility and what makes the gym more unique than any other. Check it out!
PC: How IS everything going Jesse?
JF: Everything is going great. The gyms are doing great, the promotions are doing well, and training is going well. Things couldn't be better.
PC: You recently purchased the H.I.T. Squad Gym. How did that deal become available to you?
JF: I got a call back in October or November of last year and really just went through the process. Me and the investor got in contact with each other and he basically said, "I know you have a couple of gyms in this area. Would you be interested in purchasing this one?" I don't know if your readers have ever seen the gym, but they can go to www.thehitsquad.com and they will see that it is probably one of the nicest gyms in the world. We were blessed to have the opportunity to put our stamp on it and make it better than it already was; which it was doing well already anyway, but it was just a smart financial decision. At the end of the day, we want to have the best gym in the world!
PC: Inside MMA did a great feature on your newly acquired gym and it is amazing. For the readers that did not get to check it out, tell us a little bit about the facility.
JF: The facility is 20,000 square feet, has a full cage and a full boxing ring, and we have 5,000 square feet of grappling mats. We have All Life Fitness and Hammer Strength equipment and a sauna. We've got saunas and ice baths...you name it and we got it. It's like a NFL training facility for MMA fighters. We have dorms 100 yards away where fighters can come and stay in dorms and train for 3-month training camps. They can actually come and live there for $200 a month to live there. That includes your electric, your gas, and all utilities; it's 200 bucks. You room with someone else, just like in college, or you can have your own room for $400. You train, eat, sleep MMA. For guys coming in from across the world, or for guys that just want to come in and learn mixed martial arts; we have beginner classes for those guys and girls. Kyle Watson, from the last Ultimate Fighter and he will also be fighting on the GSP/Shields card later this month, he is one of our main coaches. It's blowing up, man, and everything is going great. I hope everyone comes to check it out, or if you're just in the area for a week, you can come check it out for a week for free.
PC: That was one of the unique things that stood out in my mind when I watched the feature was the dorm rooms. I speak to well-established fighters all of the time that still travel a couple of hours to train. How important is that convenience to be able to train hard and then walk right over to your room and have everything there for you as a fighter?
JF: Right. Absolutely, it's all on campus. It was an old army base and now we have the gym and the dorms are literally a football field away. It's a dorm with 45 rooms and they come with a kitchen. It's just like college. There is not a better facility. I really believe that. It's kind of made for guys who are trying to be the best in the world, or even the guys that are just coming in for a fight. You can't beat it, you really can't. It's really awesome. You know we train in the mornings and we train at night and I'm at a gym about 30 minutes away right now. We're in the process of integrating everybody, so we're going from about 30 fighters to about 60 fighters. It's going to be 2 big camps coming together and it's been pretty incredible so far.
PC: For someone who is new to the sport or just someone who wants to come learn some mixed martial arts, a gym like this could be intimidating. Do you guys welcome all comers with open arms and walk them through the process so they don't get swallowed up by the gym?
JF: Absolutely. We have guys who have been competing at the professional level for years all the way down to a guy who is preparing for his first fight. You're going to be training with guys at your level; you will be training with guys that are a little bit better than you and then you're going to train with Matt Hughes all the way down to a guy who has never had a fight before. It's very diverse and we have training levels for all of the guys. Listen, probably 50% of our people are there to get a workout in. we have a full health club. People will come just to use the health club portion of things. Everyone wants to talk about these UFC Gyms popping up around the world, which are awesome, but we've been established like this for 7 years with the St. Louis location and this gym here for a little under a month now.
PC: You own several gyms, so if you could name one thing that separates this new gym from the rest, what would that be?
JF: It's very unique because, like you said, you got the dorms right there on campus. This gym has everything you need right there. It's basically like a field day for martial artist. It's like a playground. You walk in and it's like, "Oh my God, look at this place." It's 20,000 square feet and it's wide open, it's clean, and it's nice; first class.
PC: I've also spoke to fighters that opened a gym while they were still active fighters and regretted it because it takes up so much time. How vital was it for you to step away from competing when you started buying up gyms?
JF: I was always trying to juggle fighting and training my guys and running a gym. I was always just trying to do too much. I was trying to please everybody and was the last one to get attention. The best advice I can give fighters out there is, do not open a gym while you are fighting professionally. Fight professionally, do what you have to do, focus on that, and then focus on trying to run a gym. This is a full-time job. If you really want to be a fighter, it is a full-time job if you really want to run a gym. It's a 6 day a week job. And honestly, it's probably more like 6 1/2 days because I spend Sundays going over ideas. I mean, we staff over 100 people when it comes down to all of our instructors, personal trainers and management. I suggest that guys focus on themselves in the beginning and then worry about the gym.
PC: You can't run successful gyms without a great support group and staff. I know you can't name every employee, but are there a few names that you would like to throw out there that really serve as your backbone?
JF: The person I would thank the most is probably my wife. I know it's a cliché answer, but when this thing all came together, I was on the road a lot traveling and she was doing all of the paperwork to acquire the H.I.T. Squad and I'm lucky because she is my wife and she is smart as hell (laughing), and she helped put this whole thing together. And then there is a guy who has been with me from the very beginning named Rob Donaker. I get the glory and he's the one that does a lot of the work. We work together well with a guy named Jacob Claffy, who is our marketing and advertising guy, and he's been a big part of this whole thing. And the guy who put this whole thing together is Mark Fiore and I want to say thank you to Mark.
PC: You have a great looking gym. I wish you all of the success in the world with all of them. Give me some closing thoughts and the websites that people can visit for more information on the gyms?
JF: You can check out two websites, www.thehitsquad.com and you can check out www.finneyskickboxing.com.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]