Why did you agree to be a part of TOP 16?

I have my reasons. A couple of years ago I’ve decided to get involved in amwrestling in Ukraine. But I didn’t want to be bound by federation budget, so I transferred to kick-boxing, even went to a training camp. If I got this kind of proposal two years ago, I would have agreed for reasons of self-development. But today it’s the money before anything else.

Entering a project that so little is known about is risky – do you like risk?

I don’t see any risk here, all the contestants know what’s it all bout.

Knowing the opposition – how do you see yourself among the others?

I want to do my best, so I work out and am preparing myself.

Do you think that Alexey Voyevoda is going to make a big comeback in TOP 16?

It would be more logical to ask Alex that. He’s been out for some time, it all depends on his preparations. If he works hard, he’s going to go far, because he has great basics.

There are no weight categories in TOP 16, do you think that’s fair?

There are 16 contestants in all. I don’t think it’s worth it to divide them into categories.

If not TOP 16, then what?

In theory there are a couple of other ideas. But I think that TOP 16 is good enough for nobody to think of anything else. It has a potential to be very interesting, a sort of reckoning. There already is a similar event, A-1, but TOP 16 will definitely be bigger, if not so novel.

Anastazja Kisilyova