Ask which card is the Max Holloway rookie and you will get three answers, all of them defensible. Topps put Holloway into three UFC products in 2013, the year after his UFC debut, and the Trading Card Database (TCDB) flags a base card in each one as a rookie.
All three are rookies: 2013 Topps UFC Knockout #42, 2013 Finest UFC #62 and 2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines #9. Knockout came out first, so it is our working pick. Finest is the chromium one, and Bloodlines is the last of the three.
Why there are three
Holloway made his UFC debut at UFC 143 on 4 February 2012, losing to Dustin Poirier by first-round submission. Topps held the UFC licence at the time and ran several product lines a year. In 2013 three of them included him, and none had carried him before.
One thing to get out of the way: none of the three prints an RC logo. The rookie status comes from TCDB's RC flag, which sits on all three base cards, and from the fact that they are his first base cards. There is nothing on the cardboard to tell them apart as rookies, so choosing between them is a matter of release order and taste.
Knockout #42: first out
2013 Topps UFC Knockout #42 is the earliest of the three. TCDB gives the Knockout release date as 22 May 2013. Cardboard Connection's set page is dated 13 June 2013, a few weeks later. On either date it was months ahead of the other two.
It is card 42 in a 125-card base set, in a silver-grey frame with a big HOLLOWAY surname and FEATHERWEIGHT underneath. Cardboard Connection lists four numbered base parallels (Gold /188, Green /88, Red /8 and a Mat 1/1) plus printing plates. SLAB-Z says the card is "often referred to as his first 'rookie' card", and it is the card our Holloway rookie guide leads with.
Finest #62: the chromium rookie
2013 Finest UFC #62 arrived on 11 September 2013, according to TCDB, which flags it RC. It is card 62 in the 100-card 2013 Finest set, printed on chromium stock.
This is the one Topps pushes. When Topps' Ripped blog picked out Holloway's best cards in October 2024, its 2013 entry was the Finest Refractor #62, described as his rookie. SLAB-Z calls #62 "the fan favorite across all three sets" and points out that it is the first card to print his "Blessed" nickname on the back.
Watch the finish. The base card is unnumbered, but so is the Refractor parallel, so an unnumbered shiny #62 is not automatically the base. The numbered tiers above it are Blue Refractor /188, Gold Refractor /88, Octafractor /8 and a Superfractor 1/1.
Bloodlines #9: the late arrival
2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines #9 is the last of the three. TCDB dates Bloodlines to 13 December 2013 and flags #9 RC. The set's theme is nationality, so UNITED STATES sits under his name on a cracked-earth background.
Cardboard Connection lists the base set at 150 cards, with four parallel levels: Flag /188, Black /88, Ruby Red /8 and Platinum 1/1. We have the Black /88 marked as unconfirmed until we see one. SLAB-Z calls Bloodlines #9 the "affordable approach" to his rookie year. That is their opinion, and we are not attaching a price to it.
The autographs that get called rookies
Two 2013 signed cards are regularly listed as "RC autos". Neither carries an RC designation.
- 2013 Finest UFC Autographs #FFA-MHO: his first certified autograph, with Topps' "1st AUTOGRAPH" stamp on the front. SLAB-Z calls it "the grail of his cards" (their words, not ours). Gold Refractor /25, Octafractor /8 and Superfractor 1/1 versions exist.
- 2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines Autographed Relics #FAR-MH: a fighter-worn swatch plus a signature, numbered to 249 per TCDB. It is one of 33 cards in the subset, and Cardboard Connection lists Ruby Red /8 and Platinum 1/1 parallels.
Both are rookie-year autographs and they matter. But if a listing says "RC" on either one, it is borrowing the label from the base cards.
Three RC-flagged cards, no printed RC logo on any of them. Picking one is about release order and taste, not a dispute.
So which one?
If you want the first Holloway card to reach the market, that is Knockout #42. If you want the chromium card with a refractor rainbow, the one Topps itself features, it is Finest #62. If you are putting together all three on a budget, Bloodlines #9 fills the set. None is more "real" than the others. They are three rookies from one year, and collectors who pick one are choosing a preference, not settling an argument.
His later run is easier. 2017 Topps Chrome UFC #87 came out a few months after he won the featherweight title at UFC 212. None of the later cards has any claim to rookie status.
What we still don't know
Print runs for the three unnumbered base cards are unknown, and we won't guess. The two sources disagree on the Knockout release date (TCDB's 22 May against Cardboard Connection's 13 June), although the order of the three products stays the same either way. The Black /88 Bloodlines parallel and a Blue Knockout parallel that some listings mention are both unconfirmed.
A clear scan of a Bloodlines #9 Black parallel, front and back, would settle the /88 question. Send it in and we will credit you as the source.
Sources
- Trading Card Database2013 Topps UFC Knockout #42 Max Holloway
- Trading Card Database2013 Finest UFC #62 Max Holloway
- Trading Card Database2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines #9 Max Holloway
- Trading Card Database2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines - Bloodlines Autographed Relics #FAR-MH Max Holloway
- Cardboard Connection2013 Topps UFC Knockout Checklist, Set Info
- Cardboard Connection2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines Checklist, Set Info
- SLAB-ZMax Holloway's Rookie Year Cards to Collect
- Topps RippedUFC BMF Max Holloway's Best Cards to Collect
