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Collector profile “The Prodigy”

BJ Penn

Penn's first professional fight came in the UFC, so his rookie card and his debut card are the same thing: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10, which shows him finishing Joey Gilbert at UFC 31. Round 2 #47 carries an RC flag as well, which gives Penn collectors two 2009 rookies to chase. His signatures run from Round 1 Topps autos and a /25 Ultimate Gear auto relic through 2011 Finest, and on to the 2024 Topps multi-signer cards with Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre.

2009Rookie year
#10Rookie card
12Key cards
  • UFC debutMay 4, 2001 · UFC 31
  • DivisionsLightweight · Welterweight · Middleweight · Featherweight
  • StatusRetired · UFC (as of Sept 2026)
  • FromKailua, Hawaii
Rookie card
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10 BJ Penn / Joey Gilbert — front
#10
01

The rookie

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10 BJ Penn / Joey Gilbert — front
#10
Rookie card

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10

Penn's first card in Topps' first UFC-licensed set. It's a two-man 'UFC Debut' card showing his first-round TKO of Joey Gilbert at UFC 31 (4 May 2001), which was also his first professional fight. eBay sellers list it as his RC, and TCDB flags it as one.

Commonly misidentified

Round 2 #47 is often sold as 'the' Penn rookie. It carries an RC flag too, but came out later than Round 1 #10. Round 1 autographs (A-BJP, AUG-BJP) are sometimes listed as 'rookie autos'; they are rookie-year signatures without an RC designation. The 2009 eTopps #5 /999 was sold online rather than in packs, and no source calls it a rookie.

High confidence×1View sources & research
Rookie card guide Card record
02

Key Penn cards

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

2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #47 BJ Penn — front
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #47 Rookie
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #20a BJ Penn — front
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #20a
2022 Donruss Optic UFC #37 BJ Penn — front
2022 Donruss Optic UFC #37
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #20b
03

Autographs

6 certified autographs in the archive.

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #A-BJP BJ Penn — front
2009Topps UFC Round 1 #A-BJP Auto
2009Topps UFC Round 1 #AUG-BJP AutoRelic/25
2010Topps UFC (Series 4) #BLA-BP Auto/25
2011Finest UFC #A-BJP Auto
2024 Topps Gold Label UFC #CLS-EP BJ Penn / Frankie Edgar — front
2024Topps Gold Label UFC #CLS-EP Auto/25
2024Topps UFC Knockout #TRA-GMB Auto/10
04

Numbered & parallels

Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.

2009 eTopps (MMA) #5 BJ Penn — front
2009eTopps (MMA) #5 /999
05

Card eras

2009
Topps' first UFC year

Round 1 #10 (debut vs Gilbert), Round 1 autographs including a /25 Red Ink and a /25 Ultimate Gear auto relic, then Round 2 #47 and an eTopps /999.

2010–2011
Series 4 and Finest

2010 Topps UFC #20 with a 'The Prodigy' nickname SP, Bloodlines and Thoughts From The Boss autographs, then chromium Finest UFC base #79 and autograph A-BJP.

2022
Panini legend

After retiring, Penn appears in Panini's Donruss (#156), Donruss Optic (#37 plus a My House insert) and Chronicles.

2024
Topps returns

Once Topps had the UFC licence back, Penn's 2024 cards were mostly signatures: Finest Intimidators and Fight Glove autos, Knockout Full Contact and Pillars autos, Midnight and Noche autographs, and multi-signer cards with Edgar and with Hughes and St-Pierre.

06

Rookie parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Gold
—
High confidence
Silver
/288
High confidence
Red
/1
High confidence
Black
/888
Probable
07

Sets

Where Penn's key cards come from.

08

Buying & wanted

Wanted by FightCardboard
  • 012009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10 BJ Penn / Joey Gilbert in high grade, and its Silver /288
  • 022009 Topps UFC Round 1 Ultimate Gear Autographs #AUG-BJP /25
  • 032009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs Red Ink #A-BJP /25
  • 042024 Topps UFC Knockout Triple Autographs #TRA-GMB (Hughes / Penn / St-Pierre) /10

Offer one

Available here

Nothing from this archive in the vault right now. Selling one?

09

Research

Sets

Why 2009 Topps UFC Matters

Two products, released seven months apart, that hold the first UFC-licensed cards of almost every name from the sport's first era.

September 21, 2026
Why 2009 Topps UFC Matters
Sources & research High confidence×11Probable×2

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

BJ Penn's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10 — BJ Penn / Joey Gilbert.

TCDB lists nothing licensed for Penn before 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 (released 23 February 2009). The only earlier item it records is a 2007 Rafo 'Fighters Borci' sticker, a sticker album issue rather than a trading card. TCDB flags two Penn cards RC: Round 1 #10 and Round 2 #47. Round 1 came out first, and #10 shows his UFC debut (also his professional debut) against Joey Gilbert at UFC 31, confirmed by NS Lists' checklist and the card's own 'UFC DEBUT 5.4.01 UFC 31' stamp. eBay sellers routinely list #10 as his RC. SportsCardsPro marks it 'Is Rookie Card: No', but it shows 'No' on every 2009 Topps UFC card we checked, so that field doesn't point to a different card.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #10 — BJ Penn / Joey Gilbert.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #A-BJP — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #AUG-BJP — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #47 — BJ Penn.

Probable

2009 eTopps (MMA) #5 — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #20a — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #20b — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #BLA-BP — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2011 Finest UFC #A-BJP — BJ Penn.

High confidence

2022 Donruss Optic UFC #37 — BJ Penn.

Probable

2024 Topps Gold Label UFC #CLS-EP — BJ Penn / Frankie Edgar.

High confidence

2024 Topps UFC Knockout #TRA-GMB — BJ Penn / Matt Hughes / Georges St-Pierre.