A Look at the Cards that Define a Historic Year
2008 was a glorious year for the UFC – BJ Penn was on top of the world, Anderson Silva unified the UFC middleweight title against Dan Henderson‘s PRIDE middleweight title. The Ultimate Fighter’s first stars were making their mark on the sport, with Forrest Griffin winning the light heavyweight title from Rampage Jackson. And Topps secured the UFC license for their very first trading cards. Everything felt right in the combat sports world.
The first UFC cards would come on the heels of that great year in sports violence, 2008. So we decided to look back at the fights that inspired the incredible first Topps cards that launched in 2009, with the Top five Fights of 2008, and the corresponding cards behind the martial artists that painted a Picasso of violence that you can collect.
These cards have been chosen not just because of the exciting in-cage performances by the featured UFC fighters but also because of the historical context of the fights themselves. Some of these fights changed UFC history forever.
Top Five UFC Fights of 2008
UFC 81 | Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #81 Brock Lesnar RC
Fight info
• after being dominated by brock’s ground and pound, Frank mir tapped out Lesnar with a kneebar
• Brock became ufc heavyweight champion later that year, defeating Randy couture while holding only a 3-1 pro record. He would get his revenge on Mir at UFC 100
Card info
• 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 base card
• 1 of 90 ufc rookie cards in the collection
card back
• A tale of the tape for Brock lesnar and his rival frank mir, along with a short bio describing lesnar’s incredible rise to the top of UFC
UFC Fight Night | Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Top 10 Fights of 2008 #TT29 Nate Diaz Josh Neer RC
Fight info
• Nate diaz’s first of eight fight of the night bonuses (tied for most ever)
• Diaz won by split-decision
Card info
• 1 of 2 nate diaz cards featured in top ten fights of 2008 inserts
• one of four variants showing various angles and moments during a back-and-forth battle
card back
• the judge’s scorecards, which read 29-28 28-29 29-28 – Diaz
• A writeup declaring the 155-pound division in good hands with Diaz and neer fighting (the division was young at this point)
UFC 82 | Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Ruby Red Bloodlines #16 Anderson Silva /8
Fight info
• This fight unified UFC and PRIDE middleweight titles
• Silva looked mortal for first time in his ufc run, with Henderson able to control him from the top with his wrestling. Silva would eventually eat hendo’s patented overhand and deliver strikes back, which led to finishing him with a rear-naked choke
card info
• one of 26 unique Anderson silva cards in the set
• this black bloodlines variation is one of six different parallels
card back
• A short bio including silva’s post-fight trips to his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil so he can remind himself of where he came from and remain hungry – also translated into Portuguese
UFC 88 | Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Photo Finish #PF3 Rashad Evans
Fight info
• A true changing of the guard from the old-school Liddell to newcomers of MMA and the start of TUF alum glory
• 2008 Knockout of the year
card info
• only one variation of this insert• found in a run of 6,000 total boxes – the most limited run in topps ufc history
Card back
• a short bio of the up and coming evans who won the Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight tournament, then moved down to light heavyweight to deliver this devastating knockout
UFC 86 | Rampage Jackson vs Forrest Griffin
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Octagon Of Honor #OOH-9 Forest Griffin
Fight info
• Forrest was the first ultimate fighter winner to win a ufc belt
• the fight won fight of the night and overwhelmingly the fight of the year from various outlets
card info
• one of 5 variations, including a refractor parallel
• card image shows a victorious FORREST holding his TUF 1 trophy
card back
• A quick bio of the extremely popular forREST Griffin, describing his TUF 1 finale fight with Stephan Bonnar that put the UFC on the map and changed the sport forever
