Melbourne MMA fighter dies from medical complications following debut bout

Melbourne MMA fighter Jake Sendler has died from extreme muscle breakdown after collapsing following his debut bout. An industry insider blames an extreme push to drop weight for the tragedy.

MMA Fighter Jake Sendler died weeks after collapsing following his debut fight in Melbourne. Picture: Instagram

The loved ones of a 21-year-old Melbourne fighter who tragically died weeks after his debut MMA bout are calling for more awareness around the dangerous condition that killed him.

Jake Sendler debuted at the Road to Hex 3 fight night in Kensington on Sunday March 3 where he collapsed following his fight and was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma.

It was discovered that Jake was suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition caused by extreme muscle breakdown that floods the body with harmful toxins caused by overtraining.

In the weeks following the fight Jake endured six surgeries which saw 40 per cent of his intestines removed before he died ten days after his fight.

Jake’s mum Sharone Sendler said she wanted to make sure there was awareness around “rhabdo” so others would be able to recognise the condition that took away their families “anchor”.

Jake Sendler was suffering a life-threatening condition caused by extreme muscle breakdown. Picture: Instagram

“The medical team who was supporting him in the hospital said this was the worst case they’ve ever seen,” she said.

“The coroners are concerned because it is a disease that there is not enough known about, and they still have Jake with them at the moment and they are looking at policies so nothing like this happens again.”

It is believed Jake was suffering from rhabdo three weeks before his fight and his partner Angela Liu said there were symptoms, but they didn’t know what they were looking at.

“This is why we want to raise awareness, because he did have symptoms, but they weren’t symptoms that would make us believe that he had organ failure,” she said.

“No one had ever spoken about rhabdo, no one knew what to look for if you do have organ failure during training camp.

“The symptoms that we saw was that he had abnormally coloured urine, but we thought he was just dehydrated.

Industry insiders say what happened to Sendler was an absolute tragedy. Picture: Instagram

“A couple of weeks before the fight, he also had this weird flu like cough and we just thought it was exactly that, a flu and a cough.

“Then literally the night before his fight he had stomach pains, which would have made sense because the organs in his abdomen were damaged, but he thought it was just because he ate something bad.”

Jake would never complain according to his mother, not thinking much of the symptoms, he was a “warrior” who fought to the very end.

“Jake was in that fight with organ failure already,” she said. “For him to make those three rounds shows what kind of warrior he was.

“He was a true fighter even when they took him off life support Jake hung in there and his vitals were holding strong.

“But I could feel that he was struggling and I said to him - this is a moment that will be with me forever - I said, ‘Jake, you’re a fighter and you fought long and hard and you make me so proud but it’s time for you to rest now, darling’ and as soon as I said that to him, and I kissed him, he passed.”

A GoFundMe has since been set up in memory of Jake to help his devastated family with the cost of the funeral and to help launch a foundation in his name to raise awareness around rhabdomyolysis.

Originally published as Melbourne MMA fighter dies from medical complications following debut bout