Sports
Video: Local Teacher Fights for Charity
War for the Cure donated proceeds from the event to Susan G. Komen.
In a charity caged grappling match, Baltimore resident and amateur mixed maertial arts fighter Matthew Oakley forced professional fighter Steven Baker to tap out due to a rear-naked choke Saturday night in Harrington Delaware.
Oakley trains for MMA around his regular job, at the High Road School of Baltimore County in Dundalk where he is a special education teacher. He is also an assistant wrestling coach at Patterson High School.
The grappling match was held on the card of Stellar Fights, an amateur MMA circuit that holds its fights at Harrington Casino in Delaware. The proceeds from the exhibition between Baker and Oakley benefited War for the Cure , an MMA apparel company that raises money for breast cancer research.
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Before the match Oakley said, “I plan to get a takedown, stay out of his guard, and go for submissions. He is a professional fighter to I'll have to be cautious.”
Oakley stuck to his game plan, taking Baker down early and controlling his posture in side control. Baker threatened with triangle attacks and arm bar attempts, but Oakley easily defended these moves. Eventually, Baker wore down and made a mistake.
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“He turned and gave up his back. From there, it was all over,” Oakley said. “I said before the match that one us was going to tap. I was determined it wasn't going to be me.”
That is when Oakley slapped the rear-naked choke on forcing the professional fighter to tap out or be choked out. Baker quickly tapped.
Oakley grew up wrestling for the McKim junior league team under coaches Ron Jackson, Bruce Pendles, and now is an assistant coach at both Patterson High and the Dundalk Hawks junior league team.
Oakley does his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training at the Carlson Gracie Team under instructor Philip Johns, and currently holds the rank of blue belt. He is 5-0 in his amateur MMA career.
His opponent in the charity match, Baker, runs the Royce Gracie affiliated Delaware Combat Sports' no gi Brazillian Jui Jitsu class and holds the rank of three stripe purple belt.
“I wanted to challenge myself against Matt,” said Baker. “ He is much bigger than the guys I usually fight. It was for a good cause. Any pain we went through pales in comparison to the pain a woman with breast cancer goes through.”
Oakley's next fight will be on the XFE Cage Wars card March 2 at Harrah's Casino in Chester, PA.