New 101 ESPN Radio Host Stopped Grocery Store Thief In MMA Style

You may have heard his crimefighting story last month. But later this month, listeners of Creve Coeur-based 101 ESPN WXOS Radio will have a chance to hear Jesse Finney every weekend.

Finney owns Finney’s MMA/All In 1 Fitness in Crestwood, and along with Chad Range, will host "MMA Hit Squad” Saturday nights from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. According to a press release from the station, the program will "preview upcoming fights, talk to fan favorites, and give the thousands of fans in St. Louis - one of America’s premiere fight towns - a place that feeds their love of this hybrid of boxing, wrestling, jujitsu, and other fight disciplines."

Finney, who lives in Crestwood, is an experienced kickboxer, with a kickboxing record of 23–0, a boxing record of 8–2, an amateur MMA record of 4-0, and a professional MMA record of 6–1 as of late December.

He rose to fame late last month for his efforts to detain a man attempting to steal alcohol from a South County grocery store.

According to Sunset Hills-Crestwood Patch 

Jesse Finney said he headed to Schnucks in Crestwood around 7 p.m. on Dec. 21 to pick up some chocolate for his pregnant wife. As he neared the basket area, Finney noticed a female employee running after a man.

“I didn’t know if he had robbed the place, or if he’d assaulted somebody, I just saw her. He was pushing her off,” said Finney.

Finney grabbed the man by the coat. When he resisted, Finney slammed him to the ground and subdued him in a hold until Crestwood police could arrive, Finney said. 

“In the martial arts, it teaches you discipline and respect. If I wasn’t disciplined, I probably would have hurt the guy," Finney said. "Instead, I took him down and a bottle broke in his jacket. That’s what we really try to focus on at the gym here," he said.

The MMA-themed program starts January 19. The Wednesday press release confirmed that a hockey program co-hosted by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blues Beat Writer Jeremy Rutherford and St. Louis Blues Play-By-Play Announcer John Kelly would start this Sunday.