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Working pick
2020 Topps UFC #93 Alexandre Pantoja — front
#93
Rookie research

Alexandre Pantoja
Rookie Card Case

The candidates, the evidence for each, and which card FightCardboard treats as the working pick.

  • Working pick2020 Topps UFC #93
  • SubjectAlexandre Pantoja
  • Year2020
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceHigh confidence
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
Verified×1High confidence×1Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the working pick

Two 2020 Topps cards compete, and only one of them carries a rookie designation from the manufacturer. Topps' checklist for the August 2020 flagship reads '93 Alexandre Pantoja - Flyweight RC', reproduced independently by Cardboard Connection and Checklist Center, and the same checklist marks RC on other first-year fighters such as Dan Hooker and Zhang Weili. The March 2020 Knockout checklist carries no RC marking on #95 or on any card in that set. MMA Rookies designates Knockout #95 the True Rookie on release-order grounds, five months earlier, which keeps the question live — but a designation printed in the manufacturer's own checklist is the stronger claim.

The rookie card with the actual RC designation attached to it, and the one most dealers list as his rookie. It came out August 26, 2020, five months after Knockout #95, which is the whole of the rookie argument. It was also Topps' last flagship UFC base set before the licence moved to Panini, so it is the end of one era and his only appearance in it.

The dispute

Pantoja's two 2020 cards carry different kinds of rookie claim. Topps' checklist for the flagship 2020 Topps UFC set, released 26 August 2020, marks card #93 'RC' — the designation appears on both Cardboard Connection's and Checklist Center's copies. MMA Rookies instead names 2020 Topps UFC Knockout #95, released 25 March 2020, his True Rookie Card because it came first. So the earlier card and the designated card are not the same card, and collectors split along that line.

Commonly misidentified

SportsCardsPro's item-details field says 'Is Rookie Card: No' on both #95 and #93 while the sold listings on the same pages call them rookie cards — the same database-field quirk noted elsewhere in this archive, not a real disagreement.

Identifying it

  • Card #93, flyweight, base set of 100
  • Checklist carries the RC tag
  • Rainbow Foil falls roughly 1:5 packs and is unnumbered
  • Numbered parallels: Independence Day /76, Black /69, Camo /25, Red /8, Platinum 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Platinum
1/1
High confidence
Printing Plates
1/1
High confidence
Red
/8
High confidence
Camo
/25
High confidence
+3 more
…
down to /76 · 1 unnumbered

Card milestones

Five separate questions, kept separate. How these are defined.

The evidence behind each
  • 2020Earliest licensed card — Cardboard Connection's 2020 Topps UFC Knockout checklist reads '95 Alexandre Pantoja - Flyweight' and dates the product 25 March 2020; Checklist Center's copy of the same checklist agrees. He appears in no checklist in 2017 Topps UFC Knockout or 2017 Topps UFC Chrome, and Collectibles.com's register places his card debut in 2020.
  • 2020First MMA card — Same card — the earliest Pantoja card identified, in a UFC-licensed Topps product.
  • 2020First UFC card — Cardboard Connection and Checklist Center checklists; nothing earlier appears on any list consulted despite his January 2017 Octagon debut.
  • 2024First certified autograph — Checklist Insider's 2024 Topps Chrome UFC checklist lists 'MEA-APA Alexandre Pantoja' in the 18-card Main Event Autographs subset, and graded copies trade under that code. Pantoja appears in no autograph checklist in 2020 Topps UFC, 2020 Topps UFC Knockout, 2021 Panini Prizm UFC or 2022 Panini Chronicles UFC, and Cardboard Connection's 2022 Donruss UFC Signature Series checklist runs 1–100 with no Pantoja on it. It is filed as probable because no source has been found that rules out a signature in a Panini product between 2021 and 2023.
  • 2020Recognized rookie card — Cardboard Connection's 2020 Topps UFC checklist reads '93 Alexandre Pantoja - Flyweight RC', and Checklist Center's independent copy of the same checklist reads the same. No RC marking appears anywhere in the 2020 Topps UFC Knockout checklist.

Grading & population

Population figures will be taken directly from the grading companies and dated when they are. None are shown yet.

Sources & research Verified×1High confidence×1Uncertain×1

Every factual claim on this page, the evidence behind it, and an honest confidence level. Where sources disagree the disagreement is kept, not quietly resolved.

High confidence

Alexandre Pantoja's rookie card: 2020 Topps UFC #93 — Alexandre Pantoja.

Two 2020 Topps cards compete and only one carries a rookie designation from the manufacturer. Cardboard Connection's checklist for the August 2020 flagship reads '93 Alexandre Pantoja - Flyweight RC', and the same checklist marks RC on other first-year fighters such as Dan Hooker and Zhang Weili; eBay's catalogue page for the card is titled '2020 Topps UFC - Alexandre Pantoja #93 (RC)' and SportsCardsPro carries the same set and number. The March 2020 Knockout checklist carries no RC marking on #95 or on any card in that product, on Cardboard Connection's copy or on Checklist Center's. MMA Rookies designates Knockout #95 the True Rookie on release-order grounds — Cardboard Connection dates Knockout to 25 March 2020 and the flagship to 26 August 2020 — which keeps the question live, but a designation printed in the manufacturer's own checklist is the stronger claim. Collectibles.com states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2020', and nothing earlier appears in any published source despite his January 2017 UFC debut.

Verified

2020 Topps UFC #93 — Alexandre Pantoja.

Uncertain

Whether this or Knockout #95 is the rookie — see the rookie block. SportsCardsPro's details field says 'Is Rookie Card: No' while its own sold listings call it an RC.

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