the size of this crowd has nothing to do with how good the card was. Melbourne fans would have turned up no matter what.
and this "Seeing Ronda, Jedrzejczyk, Mark Hunt, Robert Whittaker and the like is a big deal and should not be scoffed at." well yeah actually i do scoff at that for a first time event in the sporting capital of the world.
i went to 110 in Sydney and saw Nogueira, Velasquez, Bisping, Wanderlei Silva. I went to 127 and saw Bj Penn, John Fitch, Pearson, Gustafsson. Fx2 i saw Alves, Kampmann, Benavitez, mighty mouse. i went to 156 in Vegas, Edgar, Aldo, Evans, Overeem, Woodley. even fight night 33 in Brissy i got to see Shogun!
We got Roudy and not much else IMO.
As soon as this card lost Condit and Lawler, it lost my interest. that doesn't mean it's not a success.