Dave, you have a chance to compete with the strongest guys from around the world. Are you glad about this? What does participate in Top 8 mean to you?

- I'm very excited to be competing in this match. I have to win this match to even have a shot at the Top 8. So, let’s worry about Rimkus and then we can talk about that later.

Indeed, Deivydas Rimkus will be your opponent in the transitional match. Have you seen the performance of this athlete on the Zloty Tur?

- Mr. Rimkus did awesome at Zloty this year. I have watched videos of his past matches and he is very impressive. I'm going to have to come in at the top of my game to defeat him.

What will you prepare for him? In general - how are your trainings go now? What do you pay the most attention to?

- This match came about pretty quick, so I didn’t have a Iot of time to prepare like I usually do. But mainly I will prepare for him the same way I do for any armfight.

It takes a lot of endurance to pull six matches so adding that to my training.  Overall my training is going well. I pay most attention to my health. Coming in 100 percent will be the key.

Your fight will be held in Ukraine. Do you do anything to reduce the impact of jet lag on your strength or do you not feel any changes in the climate and the time when you are not fighting at home?

- I've been very lucky in my travel to be able to combat jetlag. This will be my sixth time overseas and I haven’t noticed any strength loss yet.  Hopefully that continues for this match in Ukraine. I usually like to arrive two to three days early to get acclimated to the time zone and get on a sleep schedule.

Who will be the most important and desired opponent in the project for you?

-  Like I stated before... Rimkus. I’m not going to get ahead of myself. My only focus right now is on him. If I win this match, we can talk again.