Why this is the working pick
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #51 is the earliest Bas Rutten card found in any reachable source. eBay's catalogue page for it is titled '2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Bas Rutten #51 (RC)' and lists its Features as 'Rookie, Base Set'. Nothing earlier exists in SportsCardsPro's UFC database, he is not on the 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 checklist, and no pre-2009 issue of any kind — Japanese, Dutch or American — could be documented. It is a rookie card only in the pre-2009-legend sense: his first licensed card, printed ten years after he won the UFC heavyweight title.
The first licensed Bas Rutten card in existence, and it arrives ten years after he won the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 20 and vacated it. Round 2 is the set that also holds the Jon Jones rookie, so the product is already picked over; Rutten sits in the fighter-portrait half of the 150-card base rather than among the bout cards. Everything a Rutten collector builds starts here.
eBay's catalogue tags #51 '(RC)' with Features 'Rookie, Base Set'; SportsCardsPro's data table for the same card answers 'Is Rookie Card: No'. This is the usual split over pre-2009 legends, where the first licensed card arrives long after the debut and no card carries an RC logo.
Sellers sometimes list the Round 2 Silver /188 or Ruby /8 as 'the Bas Rutten rookie'; they are parallels of #51. Because Round 1 and Round 2 shipped in the same year, listings also occasionally put him in Round 1 — the 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 checklist does not include him.
Identifying it
- Card number 51 in the 150-card Round 2 base set
- Portrait-style fighter card, not one of Round 2's two-fighter bout cards
- Parallel ladder runs Gold, Silver /188, Bronze /88, Ruby /8; an unnumbered base card is the plain version
- Card #50 in the same checklist is Forrest Griffin and #52 is Matt Riddle — useful for spotting a mis-numbered listing
What gets mistaken for it
| What you'll read | What's true |
|---|---|
| Rutten's rookie is in 2009 Topps UFC Round 1. | Round 1's fighter cards are built around UFC debuts and Rutten is not on that checklist. Round 2 #51 is his first card. |
| There is an earlier Pancrase or Japanese Rutten card. | Nothing of the kind turned up. SportsCardsPro's database returns zero results for 'Pancrase' and no checklist site consulted carries a Pancrase product. |
Parallels
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.
Bas Rutten's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #51 — Bas Rutten.
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #51 is the earliest Bas Rutten card found in any reachable source. eBay's catalogue page for it is titled '2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Bas Rutten #51 (RC)' and lists its Features as 'Rookie, Base Set'. Nothing earlier exists in SportsCardsPro's UFC database, he is not on the 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 checklist, and no pre-2009 issue of any kind — Japanese, Dutch or American — could be documented. It is a rookie card only in the pre-2009-legend sense: his first licensed card, printed ten years after he won the UFC heavyweight title.
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Bas Rutten #51 (RC) — catalogue page, accessed September 23, 2026
- SportsCardsProBas Rutten #51 — 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 (card page; 'Is Rookie Card: No'), accessed September 23, 2026
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 1 price guide (Allan Goes, Dan Henderson #6 plus Silver and Gold), accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSearch: Pancrase — zero results, accessed September 23, 2026
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 2 checklist — Bas Rutten #51 and its Bronze /88, Gold, Ruby /8 and Silver /188 parallels, accessed September 23, 2026
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #51 — Bas Rutten.
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 2 checklist — Bas Rutten #51 and its Bronze /88, Gold, Ruby /8 and Silver /188 parallels, accessed September 23, 2026
- SportsCardsProBas Rutten #51 — 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 (card page; 'Is Rookie Card: No'), accessed September 23, 2026
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Bas Rutten #51 (RC) — catalogue page, accessed September 23, 2026
Rookie status only: eBay says RC, SportsCardsPro says no. No source gives a print run for the Gold parallel, so it is recorded without one.
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 2 checklist — Bas Rutten #51 and its Bronze /88, Gold, Ruby /8 and Silver /188 parallels, accessed September 23, 2026
- SportsCardsProBas Rutten #51 — 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 (card page; 'Is Rookie Card: No'), accessed September 23, 2026
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Bas Rutten #51 (RC) — catalogue page, accessed September 23, 2026
Go deeper
- The card record2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #51
- Bas Rutten archiveKey cards and eras
- 2009 Topps UFC Round 2Set record