Who we are

At Lumpini Combat, we are family. For over 30 years, our roots in martial arts have shaped champions and empowered everyday people to grow stronger.

What sets us apart is our community. Martial arts transcends physical skills; it embodies discipline, respect, and personal growth.

It’s about standing tall, facing challenges, and never backing down. We celebrate every victory, big or small, and lift each other through every challenge.

Here, whether you’re a new fighter or a seasoned champ, competing or seeking belonging, you’ll find your home.

This is our essence, a place of strength, growth, and connection.

Welcome to Lumpini Combat.

Woman practicing kickboxing with a trainer in a gym.

We are…

 

Across The globe

 

Canada

Spain

A woman wearing a hijab with boxing gloves in a gym setting, looking confidently at the camera.

Meet the Team

  • Kru Sara Lumpini, daughter of Ajarn Sam Lumpini, proudly carries forward her family’s legacy with more than a decade of ruthless dedication to the striking arts. For over 10 years she’s immersed herself in Muay Thai, Boxing, Kickboxing and B.F. Savate—honing precision, power and poise. As an amateur Muay Thai fighter, Sara represented the Lumpini name in the ring, testing her skills and discipline against Canada’s toughest competitors.

    Beyond her own competition, Sara has spent the last five years shaping the next generation—teaching children from kindergarten through high school across Toronto schools. Whether it’s guiding tiny first-timers through their first jab or coaching aspiring teens to sharpen their counters, her mission remains the same: to empower young athletes with confidence, respect and real-world self-defense skills.

    Certified both as an international personal trainer and a Kru Muay Thai coach, Sara’s pursuit of excellence extends to her academic and athletic training. She holds university-level credentials in Kinesiology and has developed into a calisthenics athlete through a decade of personal training under her father’s watchful eye. Her résumé even includes specialized instruction alongside Portuguese special forces, deepening her pragmatic approach to self-defense.

    Sara’s story began at age four, when she first stepped onto the mats—and it continues today as she upholds and expands her father’s Lumpini legacy. She aspires to mold promising young fighters into professionals of global renown, ensuring that the Lumpini name shines for generations to come.

A man in a yellow shirt stands with arms crossed against a green background.

  • Ajarn Sam Lumpini’s journey began in 1983, when an eighteen-year-old Sam first laced up his Savate gloves and discovered the thrill of combat sports. Within a handful of years he’d claimed provincial and national Savate titles in France, then seamlessly added Boxing, Muay Thai and Kickboxing to his repertoire. By 1990, he stood atop the World Kickboxing Association’s European professional rankings. Multiple trips to Thailand followed, where Sam tested his skills in authentic stadium bouts before retiring—undefeated in his division—at decade’s end.

    Not content to hang up his gloves, Sam traded competition rings for coaching mats. After honing his teaching craft in Berlin and New York City, he settled in Toronto and quickly earned a reputation as the city’s striking specialist. In 1995 he opened Lumpini Stadium Gym, offering Muay Thai, Savate and Boxing classes side by side, while continuing to deepen his own practice with Sambo, Pancrase and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

    Parallel to his martial-arts career, Sam built a high-stakes résumé in personal security—heading teams at Toronto’s top nightclubs and serving as bodyguard to luminaries like Robert De Niro, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino. In 2000 he returned to Europe, planting roots in Lisbon and immersing himself in Krav Maga under Europe’s foremost instructors. His reputation spread swiftly: the U.S. Embassy, Clube 7, Portugal’s NATO base and elite Special Forces all sought his combatives expertise.

    By 2004 Sam was named national coach of the Portuguese Association of Krav Maga—training future instructors, gracing TV screens and magazine covers—and two years later he launched Portugal’s first dedicated Krav Maga Training Center. There he taught everyone from civilians to military and law-enforcement units through workshops and seminars, cementing his status as the country’s leading self-defense authority.

    In 2010, Sam made his way back to Toronto, unveiling a state-of-the-art facility where he weaves together Muay Thai, Savate, MMA, Boxing and his signature Lumpini Krav Maga. His teaching network now spans six countries—Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Canada—and he continues to sharpen his own edge by training under masters like Erik Paulson and Ralf Beckmann on frequent excursions across Europe and North America. From provincial Savate champion to globally respected instructor and security expert, Ajarn Sam’s story is one of relentless evolution, unshakable discipline and the drive to share every hard-won lesson with the next generation.