My UFC Card Collection Wishlist: The Fighters I'm Chasing First
This is the starter list for the collection I am building in public: the fighters I actually watched and loved, from Chuck Liddell to Ilia Topuria to prospects like Mauricio Ruffy. Here is who I am chasing first, and the exact cards I want from each.
This is the list. Not a spreadsheet of best return names, not whatever is trending on my feed this morning. These are the fighters I actually watched, the ones I have a real connection to, and the ones I want my collection to be built around. Some are legends I grew up on, some are champions I follow now, and a couple are prospects I am trying to get in front of early.
I am building this collection out in the open, on the way toward a top 10 UFC collection, and I would rather it tell the story of the sport I love than chase whatever has the prettiest price chart. So consider this version one. I am still adding names, still arguing with myself about a few, and this is a starting point rather than a finished list. Here is who I am chasing, and exactly what I want from each of them.
What I'm Actually Hunting
Before the names, the rules, because they decide which card of each fighter I actually want. I do not buy cards just to own cardboard. Everything here has to be the kind of card that overproduction cannot touch, which is the entire point of my investing thesis. That means scarcity I can verify, real signatures, and the foundational rookie of each name. I check what these actually trade for on Card Ladder before I commit a dollar.
Here is my priority order, top to bottom.
| Priority | What I chase | Why it makes the list |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rookie autographs numbered low | A signed rookie with a small serial is fixed supply twice over |
| 2 | Low numbered parallels and autos | Real scarcity, usually /99 and down, that I can find a comp for |
| 3 | Unique cards that stand out | Case hits, short prints, and inserts with actual character |
| 4 | Pure rookie base and rookie parallels | The foundation card of each fighter, graded when it is clean |
What I skip matters just as much. I do not chase raw base for its own sake, and I do not pay up for a hyped name in the middle of a spike. If a card is not numbered, not signed, and not a genuine rookie, it usually is not for me.
A few that are already in hand: a Leon Edwards Red auto numbered to eight, an Alex Pereira Beckett 10, and a BJ Penn rookie signature. The kind of fixed supply I am building around.
The Legends I Grew Up On
These are the names that made me a fan in the first place. Their rookies and early autographs live in the Topps era, since Topps held the UFC license from 2009 to 2020 before Panini took over. Those 2009 and 2010 sets are also where the world class base of my collection begins, the logic I lay out in why I build the base from the 2009 greats up. That makes a lot of these genuinely vintage by hobby standards, with thin print runs and even thinner graded pops. I already own a BJ Penn 2009 Topps autograph and a numbered Urijah Faber from 2021 Select, and the rest of this group is what I am hunting next. I pull checklists for these older sets on Cardboard Connection and cross check graded pops on PSA.
| Fighter | Why they are on my list | What I am chasing |
|---|---|---|
| Chuck Liddell | The Iceman was the face of the first UFC boom | Topps era auto, any low serial |
| Forrest Griffin | The Bonnar fight is why this sport is on TV at all | Rookie auto, clean base |
| Frank Mir | A heavyweight technician I watched for a decade | A signed Topps card |
| BJ Penn | Hall of Fame prodigy, already in my collection | Upgrades and numbered color |
| Urijah Faber | Carried the lighter weight classes, already own a numbered Select | More numbered Select color |
| Vitor Belfort | Era defining speed and violence | An early licensed auto |
| Ronda Rousey | Changed women's MMA and the mainstream overnight | Rookie, low numbered auto |
| Daniel Cormier | Champ champ, and now the voice of the sport | Numbered rookie auto |
| Alexander Gustafsson | The Mauler gave us the best light heavyweight title fights ever | Rookie auto |
| Holly Holm | The head kick that ended an era | Rookie, numbered parallel |
The Champions and Stars I Watch Now
This is the group I have followed live, fight week after fight week. Most of their rookies land in the Panini era from 2021 to 2023, across 2021 Select, Prizm, and Donruss Optic, with two big exceptions: Conor McGregor and Leon Edwards both got going in the Topps years. I already own a Leon Edwards Topps Red auto numbered to eight, an Alex Pereira Rising Suns autograph graded a Beckett 10, and an Ilia Topuria Rated Rookie. Israel Adesanya is the fighter who pulled me into this whole thing, and I wrote a full Adesanya card guide on the site. I value graded autos against recent sales on 130point, lurk the high end on Goldin, and confirm auto grades on Beckett.
| Fighter | Why they are on my list | What I am chasing |
|---|---|---|
| Conor McGregor | The needle mover for the entire sport | His 2014 Topps red ink rookie, someday |
| Amanda Nunes | The Lioness, the two division GOAT | Panini rookie auto |
| Kamaru Usman | A welterweight reign I watched every defense of | Numbered rookie |
| Israel Adesanya | The card that started my collection | Select color and an on card auto |
| Alex Pereira | Poatan, already own a Beckett 10 auto | More numbered parallels |
| Max Holloway | Blessed, the BMF, pure volume striking | Rookie auto, low number |
| Justin Gaethje | The most violent man in the division | A numbered parallel |
| Valentina Shevchenko | Bullet, the most technical flyweight ever | Rookie auto |
| Ilia Topuria | El Matador, already own the Optic rookie | A numbered auto next |
| Leon Edwards | Rocky, already own a Red auto to eight | More of his early color |
| Khalil Rountree | The most fun striker to watch right now | Numbered rookie or auto |
The Prospects I'm Betting On Early
This is the fun part, getting in before the crowd. These rookies come from the new Fanatics and Topps era that started with 2024 Topps Chrome UFC, and they are still cheap. I already own two Mauricio Ruffy cards, including his graded Topps NOW rookie, because he is all finishes and that is exactly the kind of fighter the card market rewards. I laid out the full bull and bear breakdown in my Mauricio Ruffy steel man case. Joshua Van is the other one, a volume machine with a 2025 Topps Chrome rookie autograph that runs down to a Refractor numbered to 199. I price new rookies against Sportscardspro and watch live sales on eBay sold listings. Whatever I pick up gets written up the same week.
| Fighter | Why they are on my list | What I am chasing |
|---|---|---|
| Mauricio Ruffy | All finishes, already own two | More numbered autos |
| Joshua Van | A pace nobody can match, cheap right now | His 2025 Chrome rookie auto |
Who's Next
This is version one, and I mean that. There are names I am still going back and forth on, fighters I loved who never got much of a card market, and new contenders I want to watch a few more times before I spend real money on them. That back and forth is part of the fun of building in public instead of buying in private. If there is a fighter you think belongs on this list, the place I argue about it most is r/ufc, and I would genuinely like to hear who you would add.
The Bottom Line
This list is the heart of what I am building. Fighters I actually watched and loved, collected through the only cards I trust: low numbered rookie autos, scarce parallels, and the real rookie base of each name. I will let the hyped stuff pass and spend my money on cardboard that cannot be reprinted, the same discipline I bring to every set I break down. You can verify the print runs and parallels for the Panini years on Panini America. Follow the build across the blog and watch the list grow, one fighter and one card at a time.