"He tried to say I said all of this shit, but I got love for all fighters. Why would I say shit about mixed martial artists? I don't have any hate towards him though because I don't even know him, for real. I love watching fighting and I be watching all of that shit and I have never seen him. He's not even an elite fighter. If he wants to fight, come off of that money. I'm saying it to you exclusively for FightHype; f@*k the hype, we can get it poppin' if he wants to come up with the f@*kin' money," stated Novell G. Bell as he set the record straight regarding the situation with mixed martial artist Nick Thompson. You don't want to miss what else he had to say in this explosive and exclusive interview as he talks more about the Nick Thompson situation and reveals what went on behind the scenes during the filming of BET's Iron Ring.

PC: How is everything going man?

NB: Chillin'. Living life.

PC: How did you hook up with BET to become a coach on the Iron Ring?

NB: My man Kamal Hunter recommended me because I used to be fighting out in Chinatown and shit. He knew me basically from the streets and he asked me if I would be interested and to be honest, I wasn't at first. He told me it would give me some recognition and he introduced me to Warrin Hudin and I had to go have a meeting with him and they felt me out. Warrin knew about my background in the arts and asked me to coach Team Dipset. Really, it was Juelz Santana and Jim Jones that wanted me the most because I was from Harlem and they from Harlem. I guess, out of the 3,000 people, they wanted me so that's how I got on that show.

PC: What did you think of the show and what would you have changed if you could have changed anything?

NB: Personally, man I would have focused more on the coaches and fighters. I think they put to much drama on the rappers. I think they should have let people know more about the coaches and fighters. It was a lot of bullshit in the game basically behind the scenes with the Iron Ring. A lot of the cats, they didn't really train them…I know I didn't train a lot of them cats for real. I'm going to keep it real. That shit's over so I could say whatever the fuck I want to say now (laughing). They didn't let nobody really train them. I crossed with a couple cats, but it wasn't really no hands on type of shit. They were talking like we were going to be living in a house in Harlem and stuff like that. I thought it was going to be some shit like that. I get there and it was like 3 days on the set and when I went to New Orleans, I didn't really know them cats. I got kind of cool with Carlos Miranda, he's a mixed martial arts fighter, and a guy named Daniel. Other than that, I didn't really know these guys. I was looking for intensity more than anything else. I know in mixed martial arts, you have to have good standup and a good ground game, but I like that intensity. I was looking for people that wanted to go out there and really try to put it on somebody and at the same time, not get reckless. I think they should've showed the background of these guys more. They made that cat from Nelly's team [Jermaine Andre] look like a fucking saint. A lot of these guys knew their shit, but they never got the opportunity to show their shit and that's because of David Ivan. When Warrin Hudin got basically kicked off the set, they took over and changed everything. Hudin had a different type of vision than what Ivan and this cat named Campbell had. They outnumbered him and took over.

PC: Let us know the situation with Nick Thompson and how that got started.

NB: Let me tell you something man, I don't even know this cat. I think I made a comment on BET and my man Maoshan was saying I was misportrayed on BET. My only thing with BET is that they didn't show my background. All of a sudden, this cat Nick Thompson, he calls himself "The Goat" or whatever…anybody that can read can see I didn't have nothing to do with the shit. My man Maoshan had said some shit about mixed martial artist, basically stating his opinion. Everybody got a right to their opinion. It's the same thing about cats saying Kung Fu ain't shit, but you don't see me flipping out about it because I could give a flying fuck. The bottom line is, I don't even know this dude. Maybe he's doing it for a publicity stunt or whatever because I was on TV and he's not; I don't know. I don't know the man, but I ain't a bitch either. I told my man Sean that he was talking about fighting for $40,000 or whatever it was. He contacted my man Sean back. Like I said, if I'm going to get down, I'm going to get paid, but I ain't got no money like that. I'm from the hood. He tried to disrespect me, but I keep down low. I respect any man that steps in the ring, but I ain't going to let no man call me out. I told my man Sean he had to get me an interview with FightHype so I can clear this shit up. I study Jiu Jitsu and I spar with a lot of mixed martial artist, but competition ain't my thing. I do it more for the conditioning. If you want to do this, it is no problem if the money's right. If he has $40,000, like he claims, then it's no problem. I know my man can take him out. Anybody that knows me knows I don't even get down like that, talking down on a fighter. The way I feel about it is if Nick approaches me the wrong way, it's going to be on. This shit is getting crazy. I'm trying to get into the entertainment field man. I'm not even thinking about a fight, but I'll throw down with a cat. I used to fight when I was homeless and the whole nine back in the day, so it ain't nothing to me. Maybe because I'm 40 years old and whatnot, he's getting it twisted.

PC: Hold on, you said you were 40 years old? No way!

NB: Yeah, son. I was born in 1967. I was back in the days of the Supreme Team. All of them cats know me man. A lot of people think I'm a lot younger, but man, I train every day. I can relate to a lot of these young cats man so they think I'm a lot younger than I am. I used to drink a lot man, but I don't drink anymore and I think that has a lot to do with it. I go to bed kind of early and I like to train with these young cats in the projects and they keep me straight. I don't want him to get it twisted because he's saying I said these things and his real problem is my man Maoshan. He's a good business man and I give him respect for that because I can see the way he's trying to hype himself up. I follow a lot of these cats like Nick Diaz, Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and all of them and they some mean motherfuckers, but who the fuck is Nick Thompson? He's some Midwest motherfucker. I have seen his clips man. He has a lazy ass left hand and no right hand; he can't even box. I didn't get into this shit to learn how to fight. I was just infatuated with the shit. I went to Japan and stayed in China a few years to study my shit. I think for him, it's just personal hype. I don't even know this man. I only know of him because of what he put out and people emailing me asking me about it. I find out Nick is like a welterweight. I'm in Harlem. People already know where I be at because I say that shit all of the time. I've been here for over 20 years now teaching; everybody knows me man. If a cat really wants to fight, he's going to step up. I'm not going to shoot a motherfucker. I got friends with mad gyms. My man Rich Garcia got a big ass cage so he needs to fly his ass over here and we can see what the problem is because other than that, I don't have no beef with him unless he comes at me with some bullshit. I wanted to get the real story out because he wants to do an interview and tell all of this bullshit. When I read his interview, I was like I gotta get an interview with FightHype.

PC: I'm glad I was able to get with you and get your side of the story.

NB: He tried to say I said all of this shit, but I got love for all fighters. Why would I say shit about mixed martial artists? I don't have any hate towards him though because I don't even know him, for real. I love watching fighting and I be watching all of that shit and I have never seen him. He's not even an elite fighter. If he wants to fight, come off of that money. I'm saying it to you exclusively for FightHype; fuck the hype, we can get it poppin' if he wants to come up with the fuckin' money. I ain't coming down out of my weight for his ass either. He wants to call motherfuckers out, he can fight my man Maoshan. Maoshan put out a video on YouTube and bitched him out. Now, if a motherfucker bitch me like that, you think I'm going to sit back like that?