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Collector profile “Showtime”

Anthony Pettis

Pettis is one of the few champions whose first card shows him in the WEC: 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 arrived on 4 May 2011, a month before he ever fought in the Octagon and five months after the Showtime kick made him the final WEC lightweight champion. Nothing earlier exists — he is absent from 2010 Topps UFC Series 4, 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout and 2010 Leaf MMA, all of which carried other WEC names, and Main Event's 'WEC Fighter' block passed him by. That timing is what makes his rookie easy to miss: Collectibles.com's register designates #98 the rookie card, while the card dealers most often advertise as his 'Rookie RC' is the later 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218 UFC Debut card.

2011Rookie year
#98Rookie card
10Key cards
  • UFC debutJune 4, 2011 · The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale
  • DivisionsLightweight · Featherweight · Welterweight
  • FromMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Rookie card
2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 Anthony Pettis — front
#98
01

The rookie

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 Anthony Pettis — front
#98
Rookie card

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98

Pettis's first trading card, from the 150-card Title Shot base set released 4 May 2011 — the product that folded the WEC roster into the main Topps UFC base run after the merger. Topps had already carried WEC fighters a year earlier, in the 'WEC Fighter' block of 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, but Pettis was not in it. #98 shipped a month before his UFC debut against Clay Guida, so it shows him as the reigning (and final) WEC lightweight champion rather than a UFC fighter. Every earlier 2010 MMA product checked — Topps Series 4, Main Event, Knockout and Leaf MMA — lists other WEC names but no Pettis.

Commonly misidentified

Listings call 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218 a 'Rookie RC' because it is a UFC Debut card; it is not his first card. Sellers also list the Title Shot #98 Gold, Silver and Bronze parallels as 'the rookie' when they are parallels of the same base card.

High confidence×1View sources & research
Rookie card guide Card record
MS

Card milestones

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

The evidence behind each
  • 2011Earliest licensed card — Cardboard Connection dates the product to 4 May 2011 and gives the 150-card base set. No Pettis entry appears in SportsCardsPro's set lists for 2010 Topps UFC Series 4, 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout or 2010 Leaf MMA, and a SportsCardsPro product search for Pettis in Main Event returns nothing, so no 2010 card competes with it.
  • 2011First MMA card — No non-MMA Pettis card of any kind turned up in Collectibles.com's register or SportsCardsPro's product search.
  • 2011First UFC card — Cardboard Connection's product page for 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot; Wikipedia for the 4 June 2011 UFC debut against Clay Guida.
  • 2011First certified autograph — Cardboard Connection lists the 35-card Fighter Autograph Relics subset within Title Shot and the card appears in eBay's catalogue. No signed Pettis card from 2010 or earlier appears in any catalogue consulted. Whether Title Shot also carried a plain Pettis signature alongside the autographed relic has not been established.
  • 2011Recognized rookie card — Collectibles.com's Pettis register lists the card as '2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 RC Anthony Pettis'. It is also his earliest card, so the designation and the chronology agree.
02

Key Pettis cards

10 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Fighter Relics #FR-AP Relic
2011 Finest UFC #49
2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218
2012 Topps UFC Knockout #31
2013 Topps UFC Knockout #23
03

Card history

Pettis is one of the few champions whose first card shows him in the WEC. 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot, released 4 May 2011, is the product that folded the WEC roster into the main Topps UFC base run after the merger - Topps had already carried WEC fighters a year earlier, in the 'WEC Fighter' block of 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, where Urijah Faber is #144 - and Pettis lands at #98 in Title Shot's 150 cards, a month before he ever fought in the Octagon and five months after the Showtime kick made him the last WEC lightweight champion. Nothing earlier exists: he appears in none of 2010 Topps UFC Series 4, 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout or 2010 Leaf MMA, all of which carried other WEC names such as Ben Henderson and Anthony Njokuani.

That same May product holds his first relic and his first signature, so both predate his UFC debut. Fighter Relics #FR-AP comes unnumbered, with a Black version /88 and a Red /8, making it the first Pettis card a collector can chase in serial-numbered form. The Fighter Autograph Relics #FAR-AP is his first certified autograph, from a 35-contender subset that fell at roughly one per box.

The rest of 2011 brought his chrome cards and the card the market actually trades as his rookie. Finest UFC #49 is his first on chrome stock, with the deepest ladder of his early run - Refractor /888, Xfractor /388, Gold Refractor /88, Octafractor /8, Red Refractor 1/1 and a printing plate - and a Finest Autograph #A-AP beside it. Moment of Truth followed on 30 November 2011 with base #218 in a 220-card set, plus Certified Signatures #CS-AP from the product's 70-card autograph series, a Fighter Gear relic and an Autographed Fighter Gear card /25. The rookie question is settled at the database level even though the market has not caught up: Collectibles.com's register carries #98 as '2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 RC Anthony Pettis', while dealers title #218 'UFC Debut' or 'Rookie RC' and SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on #98, #49 and #218 alike. The useful fact is that #98 is seven months earlier than the card most people buy as the rookie.

2012 Topps UFC Knockout, out 6 April 2012, gave him base #31 in a 100-card hit-driven set, so those base cards are far scarcer than the 150- and 220-card issues of the year before; the Green /88 and Red /8 are the versions worth hunting, while the Gold and Silver print runs are reported differently by different checklists. The signed content in that product is the best of his career to that point - a Fighter Autograph #FA-AP, a Notable Nicknames autograph #NN-AP playing on 'Showtime', a Triple Threads relic and a dual autographed fight mat shared with Clay Guida, the man who had beaten him on his UFC debut.

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #23 is his last base card before the belt: he armbarred Benson Henderson in the first round at UFC 164 on 31 August 2013, the rematch of the WEC 53 fight that made his name, and the Red /8 is the version collectors chase from a set that stayed thin and hit-heavy. His late-career signature is on a throwback: 2020 Topps UFC 1985 #85T-4, the autographed version of the 1985-design card, issued as he closed out his UFC run before moving to the PFL that December.

Sources for every paragraph

04

Autographs

4 certified autographs in the archive.

2011Topps UFC Title Shot Fighter Autograph Relics #FAR-AP AutoRelic
2011Finest UFC Autographs #A-AP Auto
2011Topps UFC Moment of Truth Certified Signatures #CS-AP Auto
2020Topps UFC 1985 #85T-4 Auto
05

Card eras

2011
Title Shot — the WEC champion's first cards

Topps put WEC fighters into the 150-card Title Shot base set released 4 May 2011, and Pettis landed at #98. The same product gave him his first relic (#FR-AP, Black /88 and Red /8) and his first certified autograph, the Fighter Autograph Relic #FAR-AP.

2011
Finest and Moment of Truth

2011 Finest UFC #49 put him on chrome stock with a full refractor ladder down to an Octafractor /8 and a Red Refractor 1/1, plus a Finest Autograph #A-AP. Moment of Truth followed on 30 November 2011 with base #218 — sold by most dealers as his UFC Debut / rookie card — and the Certified Signatures #CS-AP.

2012
Knockout and the nickname autos

2012 Topps UFC Knockout (6 April 2012) gave him base #31 with Silver, Green /88 and Red /8 parallels, a Fighter Autograph #FA-AP, a Notable Nicknames Autograph #NN-AP and a Dual Autographed Fight Mat Relic with Clay Guida.

2013
Champion

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #23 is his last base card before he took the UFC lightweight belt from Benson Henderson by first-round armbar at UFC 164 on 31 August 2013. Its Red /8 is the scarce serial-numbered version.

2020
Topps throwback autographs

Late-career Topps releases leaned on retro designs; 2020 Topps UFC 1985 #85T-4 is an on-design autograph from that run, issued while he was finishing his UFC run before moving to the PFL in December 2020.

06

Rookie parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Diamond
1/1
Probable
per Cardboard Connection's product-level parallel list
Red
/8
Uncertain
per Cardboard Connection's product-level parallel list; not confirmed on the base card
Gold
—
Probable
Silver
—
Uncertain
Bronze
—
Uncertain
07

Sets

Where Pettis's key cards come from.

08

Buying & wanted

Wanted by FightCardboard
  • 012011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 — the Diamond 1/1 and Red parallels of his first card
  • 022011 Topps UFC Title Shot Fighter Autograph Relics #FAR-AP, his first certified autograph
  • 032011 Finest UFC #49 Octafractor /8 and Red Refractor 1/1
  • 042011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218 Ruby /8 — the parallel of the card dealers sell as his rookie

Offer one

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Sources & research High confidence×10Probable×6

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

Anthony Pettis's rookie card: 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 — Anthony Pettis.

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 is both Pettis's first card and the only Pettis card a card database designates a rookie: Collectibles.com's register carries it as '#98 RC'. Cardboard Connection dates the product to 4 May 2011, a month before he had fought in the UFC, and it is the base set where Topps first carried WEC fighters, which is why his first card shows him as the last WEC lightweight champion. Nothing earlier exists: SportsCardsPro's set lists for 2010 Topps UFC Series 4, 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout and 2010 Leaf MMA contain no Pettis entry, and Cardboard Connection's 2010 Series 4 checklist does not include him. The designation is not printed on the card — an eBay seller checklist for the set marks its RC cards and does not mark #98, and SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' for #98, for 2011 Finest UFC #49 and for 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218, the card dealers more often sell as his rookie and which carries no designation from any database.

High confidence

Pettis is one of the few champions whose first card shows him in the WEC. 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot, released 4 May 2011, is the product that folded the WEC roster into the main Topps UFC base run after the merger - Topps had already carried WEC fighters a year earlier, in the 'WEC Fighter' block of 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, where Urijah Faber is #144 - and Pettis lands at #98 in Title Shot's 150 cards, a month before he ever fought in the Octagon and five months after the Showtime kick made him the last WEC lightweight champion. Nothing earlier exists: he appears in none of 2010 Topps UFC Series 4, 2010 Topps UFC Main Event, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout or 2010 Leaf MMA, all of which carried other WEC names such as Ben Henderson and Anthony Njokuani.

High confidence

That same May product holds his first relic and his first signature, so both predate his UFC debut. Fighter Relics #FR-AP comes unnumbered, with a Black version /88 and a Red /8, making it the first Pettis card a collector can chase in serial-numbered form. The Fighter Autograph Relics #FAR-AP is his first certified autograph, from a 35-contender subset that fell at roughly one per box.

High confidence

The rest of 2011 brought his chrome cards and the card the market actually trades as his rookie. Finest UFC #49 is his first on chrome stock, with the deepest ladder of his early run - Refractor /888, Xfractor /388, Gold Refractor /88, Octafractor /8, Red Refractor 1/1 and a printing plate - and a Finest Autograph #A-AP beside it. Moment of Truth followed on 30 November 2011 with base #218 in a 220-card set, plus Certified Signatures #CS-AP from the product's 70-card autograph series, a Fighter Gear relic and an Autographed Fighter Gear card /25. The rookie question is settled at the database level even though the market has not caught up: Collectibles.com's register carries #98 as '2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 RC Anthony Pettis', while dealers title #218 'UFC Debut' or 'Rookie RC' and SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on #98, #49 and #218 alike. The useful fact is that #98 is seven months earlier than the card most people buy as the rookie.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Knockout, out 6 April 2012, gave him base #31 in a 100-card hit-driven set, so those base cards are far scarcer than the 150- and 220-card issues of the year before; the Green /88 and Red /8 are the versions worth hunting, while the Gold and Silver print runs are reported differently by different checklists. The signed content in that product is the best of his career to that point - a Fighter Autograph #FA-AP, a Notable Nicknames autograph #NN-AP playing on 'Showtime', a Triple Threads relic and a dual autographed fight mat shared with Clay Guida, the man who had beaten him on his UFC debut.

High confidence

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #23 is his last base card before the belt: he armbarred Benson Henderson in the first round at UFC 164 on 31 August 2013, the rematch of the WEC 53 fight that made his name, and the Red /8 is the version collectors chase from a set that stayed thin and hit-heavy. His late-career signature is on a throwback: 2020 Topps UFC 1985 #85T-4, the autographed version of the 1985-design card, issued as he closed out his UFC run before moving to the PFL that December.

High confidence

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #98 — Anthony Pettis.

High confidence

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Fighter Relics #FR-AP — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Fighter Autograph Relics #FAR-AP — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2011 Finest UFC #49 — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2011 Finest UFC Autographs #A-AP — Anthony Pettis.

High confidence

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #218 — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth Certified Signatures #CS-AP — Anthony Pettis.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Knockout #31 — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #23 — Anthony Pettis.

Probable

2020 Topps UFC 1985 #85T-4 — Anthony Pettis.