Anti-Vaccine Champion Fighter Dies Of COVID-19 After Treating Himself With Oxygen

KEY POINTS

Frederic Sinistra, 41, died of COVID-19 on Dec. 15
The three-time kickboxing world champion tried to treat the infection at home with oxygen
Sinistra was a COVID-19 denier who once called the disease a "little virus"
He is survived by his partner and two children

Three-time kickboxing world champion Frederic Sinistra died of COVID-19 last week after he attempted to treat the virus at home.

The 41-year-old Belgian kickboxer, nicknamed "The Undertaker," was admitted to the hospital in late November after his coach, Carolo Yigin Osman, threatened to leave him if he did not seek treatment for his COVID-19 infection, newspaper Sudinfo reported.

"A warrior never abdicates! I will come back even stronger," Sinistra said in a Nov. 27 post on Instagram, which included a photo of the athlete on the hospital bed of an intensive care unit.

A post shared by instagram

Sinistra, an unvaccinated COVID-19 denier who reportedly once called the disease a "little virus," voluntarily discharged himself from the hospital and opted to treat his sickness at his home in Liege with oxygen.

He believed his relatively young age and physical condition would be enough to protect himself from the COVID-19 symptoms, according to a report by Vice.

"I was born premature and I will continue to fight to the death like a man without ever giving up and dying without regrets," Sinistra said in another social media post before leaving the hospital.

However, Sinistra died at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 15. He is survived by his partner and two children.

Fabian Pavone, Sinistra's former coach, described the kickboxer as a "monument" and "force of nature with a heart of gold" whose death could have been avoided.

"He was a golden guy. I will never forget him. He was the strongest in Belgium in the heavyweight category," Jordan Sferrazza, one of Sinistra's friends, said.

A little over 90% of Belgium's adult population has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Reuters said, citing data provided by the country's Sciensano national public health institute.

Thousands of protesters marched on the nation's capital of Brussels for a third time on Sunday after new COVID-19 restrictions were imposed by the government to counter a spike in infections as the omicron variant of the virus spread across Europe.

Belgium has reported a total of 2,017,447 COVID-19 infections and 28,035 deaths since the pandemic began, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.