yes, essentially. That is a part of it. The UFC ALWAYS sets up matches that are heavily promoted new fighters facing a well established fighter.

One example is of a top 10% striker in the division with a lot of eyes on him can't wrestle to save his life, and will get beaten by an average wrestler at the level he is fighting at. When he fights a strong wrestler he will lose nearly 80 to 90% of the time. The public has not seen him get exposed yet for his weak wrestling but those people paying attention will remember him have trouble wrestling a while back. Attention span of people watching is very low, so if there wasn't any memorable moments that exposed him.. the lines won't adjust for it because the public won't account for it.