I have no idea about the other stuff but those UFC shows are staged.
Of course there's a format but the personalities are real. I personally know, train, socialized with two people who have been on that show. B.J. Penn and Andy Wang (who was on the TUF with Penn/Pulver).
They confirmed it's real but do edit to suit their narrative. That's why Penn didn't come off so well when he was on the show with GSP. Everyone knows GSP is a stand up guy so they cherry pick moments when Penn was trash talking and tried to pump that up to create controversy. Good guy/bad guy always sells.
Of course you are always going to be conscious when a camera is on you and try to play things up. But to think that Dana tells them: "OK, act you act like this and you act like that." Is false. Just like he doesn't tell the fighters how to act. Holly is going to be the same Holly before she became famous. Connor is going to be Connor building interest in his fights because that's what he wants and not because Dana tells him. But Connor is still cocky and supremely confident and will always try to play with your head and Uriah is still Uriah, kind of taking things in stride as is shown on the current TUF. Nobody is telling Connor what to say and nobody is telling Uriah how he should respond.
