Are you talking about this upcoming fight, or the early UFC's? I think the UFC as a whole is working on this. It pisses me off when they replay fights that are years old on Spike and guys come into work believing they saw the fight live only further proving their ignorance of the sport. These same people do not know a single fighter in Pride and think Arlovski is the greatest thing since toilet paper. Some poeple still think BJJ is the end all be all of martial arts and haven't evolved with the MMA concept because they really aren't "fans." Remember, I'm talking about the folks just now coming into the mix after the initial hayday of the 90's.
Anyway, back to your original thought. I think the easiest way to answer it is to ask these folks to name a handful of Gracies that are not named Royce and they will not be able to do it without, what I would think to be, some general knowledge of the sport, and I do mean basic knowledge. It's like knowing who fights for what team. These new fans cannot do these things. Granted, even I only recently got heavy into Pride a year or so ago, but as even a casual student of the sport, I immersed myself into it to learn as much as I could with every means I have available.