Frédéric Sinistra (13 January 1980 – 15 December 2021) was a Belgian kickboxing champion who died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Born in

Seraing Seraing (; wa, Serè) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Ougrée, and Seraing. With Liège, Herstal, Saint ...

, Sinistra taught himself

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

at a young age and began competing in the sport at age sixteen. He went on to win the Belgian National Championship title four times and the World Championship a total of three times. Sinistra was nicknamed "the Undertaker", and at one time was called "Belgium's strongest man". Opponents that Sinistra defeated included

Stefan Leko Stefan Leko (born June 3, 1974) is a German heavyweight kickboxer. He is the current WKA Super-Heavyweight world champion in kickboxing, and former Muay Thai world heavyweight champion and Kickboxing world super-heavyweight champion, WMTA, WKN, ...

and

Dževad Poturak Dževad Poturak (born September 20, 1977) is a Bosnian heavyweight kickboxer, fighting out of Jumruk Gym in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is the former WAKO Pro World Low-Kick champion and K-1 Fighting Network Prague 2007 tournament cham ...

, while he was defeated by

Badr Hari Badr Hari (born 8 December 1984) is a Moroccan-Dutch kickboxer. He is a former K-1 Heavyweight World Champion (2007–2008), It's Showtime Heavyweight World Champion (2009–2010) and ''K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 and 2009'' finalist. Born an ...

Grégory Tony Grégory Tony (born 27 May 1978) is a French heavyweight kickboxer and professional Boxing, boxer fighting out of Paris. He is three time French kickboxing champion, three time French muaythai champion, one time French boxing champion, two time ...

, and

Patrice Quarteron Patrice "The Dark Ronin" Quarteron (; born in Sevran on 20 March 1979) is a French heavyweight kickboxer, fighting out of Évry, Essonne. He is two time French and European Muay Thai champion and current IKF Muay Thai Super Heavyweight World cham ...

. Sinistra, an

anti-vaccinationist Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...

, was unvaccinated and a denier of COVID-19. When he became infected with COVID-19 in late November 2021, he would not acknowledge he had it. He was admitted to hospital but voluntarily discharged himself soon after. He died of COVID-19 complications in

Havelange Havelange (; wa, Havlondje) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,844 inhabitants. The total area is 104.73 km², giving a population density of 45 inhabitants per ...

a few weeks later.Avis Avis de déces Frédéric Sinistra
''inmemoriam.be''

References

1980 births 2021 deaths People from Seraing Belgian male kickboxers Belgian anti-vaccination activists Anti-vaccination activist deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium Sportspeople from Liège Province {{Belgium-martialart-bio-stub