TJ Dillashaw reacts to Lomachenko boxing
The former UFC bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw was at last nights Vasyl Lomachenko vs Miguel Mariagga. Dillashaw is one of the very few MMA fighters to have ever stepped into the Lomo’s world. And sparred the World Champion in his own World.
So he knows what the differences are between MMA striking and that of boxing. Dillashaw is somewhat in awe of the Uranian’s ringmanship. And his ability to see punches coming at him and avoid them totally in real-time.
“Lomachenko’s reaction time is unreal! It’s the real-life matrix!”
He goes on to talk about how most boxers avoiding punches are really pre-planned movements. Whereas Vasyl is making those calculations at the moment and not falling into and pre-planned sequences. Dillashaw says that he would like to be able to emulate him. And bring some of those same drills that he uses into his own training regime.
That combined with Lomachenko’s work regime and his own persona as a very humble Champion, it’s something TJ looks up to. He talks about what it was like to spar with Vasyl and how his own movement is different from that of a traditional boxer. With different distances and ranges, he says that Vasyl had to chase him around the ring a little bit.
Tonight his opponent was very defensive and too scared to throw. And in those situations that is where you will catch a shot and get knocked out. When you don’t see those punches coming. And you open yourself up. That is when a fighter like Vasyl Lomachenko will catch you and put you to sleep.