Why this is the working pick
Round 2 #137 is the first licensed card of any kind to carry Sonnen, and nothing competes with it — Allender's checklist lists him once in the set, on that bout card, and not at all in Round 1 or in any earlier MMA product. What cannot be shown is that anyone with authority designates it a rookie: Topps printed no rookie logo in the 2009 sets, SportsCardsPro records it as not a rookie, and the one register that states a rookie year for him says 2010 because it does not hold the 2009 card. That gap is why the confidence moves from high to probable, even though the card itself is not in doubt.
The only Chael Sonnen card issued before 2010, and it is a shared bout card from a fight he lost — Demian Maia's triangle choke at UFC 95 on 21 February 2009. Topps used the back half of the Round 2 checklist for two-man fight cards precisely to cover fighters who had no portrait card, which is how a twelve-year veteran who had already headlined a WEC title fight got onto cardboard for the first time. It sits eleven numbers from the Junior dos Santos / Stefan Struve card and four from the Carlos Condit / Martin Kampmann card in the same run.
Because the card names two fighters, it is routinely catalogued and sold under Demian Maia alone, and listing titles describe it as a 'UFC Debut' card even though UFC 95 was neither man's debut — Sonnen debuted at UFC 55 in 2005 and Maia at UFC 77 in 2007. Sellers also describe it as a Round 1 card; Round 1 has no Sonnen at all.
Identifying it
- #137 in the 150-card base set, inside the bout-card run that starts at #101
- Two fighters on one photograph; Allender's checklist prints the line as 'Chael Sonnen Vrs Demian Maia'
- Round 2's black-heavy border shows edge wear immediately — raw copies photograph better than they grade
- Do not confuse with Round 1, which has 100 base cards and no Sonnen
What gets mistaken for it
| What you'll read | What's true |
|---|---|
| This is a 'UFC Debut' card. | eBay titles say so, but UFC 95 was neither fighter's debut. Sonnen debuted at UFC 55 in October 2005 and Maia at UFC 77 in October 2007. |
| Sonnen has a 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 card. | Allender's Round 1 checklist contains no Sonnen entry in any subset. |
Parallels
Card milestones
Five separate questions, kept separate. How these are defined.
- Earliest licensed card2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 High confidence
- First MMA card2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 High confidence
- First UFC card2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 High confidence
- First certified autograph2010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-CS Verified
- Recognized rookie card2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 Probable
The evidence behind each
- 2009Earliest licensed card — SportsCardsPro's card page confirms 'Chael Sonnen, Demian Maia #137' in 2009 Topps UFC Round 2, and Cardboard Connection dates the product to 30 September 2009. Jeff Allender's Round 2 checklist lists Sonnen exactly once, on that card, and the Round 1 checklist has no Sonnen at all.
- 2009First MMA card — No pre-2009 Sonnen card appears in SportsCardsPro, Collectibles.com or the 2006 PRIDE FC set; he fought in the UFC and WEC rather than in Japan.
- 2009First UFC card — Topps held no UFC licence before 2009, and Round 2 is the first of its UFC products to include him.
- 2010First certified autograph — SportsCardsPro's 2010 Topps UFC Autographs set list carries '#FA-CS Chael Sonnen', and Collectibles.com's register names the same card as the earliest Sonnen card it holds. The 2009 Round 2 autograph subset does not include him.
- 2009Recognized rookie card — The Trading Card Database checklist the archive follows carries a rookie flag on #137 and eBay listings sell it as '(RC)'. Against that, SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' and Collectibles.com's register dates his rookie season to 2010 and holds no 2009 Sonnen card at all, which looks like a gap in that database's coverage rather than a claim about a different card. No rival candidate exists: nothing of his is earlier.
Grading & population
Population figures will be taken directly from the grading companies and dated when they are. None are shown yet.
Sources & research High confidence×1Probable×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.
Chael Sonnen's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 — Chael Sonnen / Demian Maia.
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 is the first licensed card of any kind to carry Chael Sonnen. Jeff Allender's checklist for Round 2 lists him exactly once, on the fight card 'Chael Sonnen Vrs Demian Maia' at #137, and confirms he appears in none of the set's insert, relic or autograph subsets. The Round 1 checklist has no Sonnen entry at all, and no earlier MMA set — PRIDE FC 2006, the 2000 SEG/Crave promos — includes him either, so there is no pre-Topps card to argue for. FightCardboard's Round 2 checklist carries an RC flag on #137 and eBay listings sell it as '(RC)'.
- Jeff Allender's House of ChecklistsUFC Round 2 (2009 Topps) checklist, accessed September 22, 2026
- Jeff Allender's House of ChecklistsUFC Round 1 (2009 Topps) checklist — no Sonnen entry, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProChael Sonnen, Demian Maia #137 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 2, accessed September 22, 2026
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137 — Chael Sonnen / Demian Maia.
- Jeff Allender's House of ChecklistsUFC Round 2 (2009 Topps) checklist, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProChael Sonnen, Demian Maia #137 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 2, accessed September 22, 2026
Rookie status only. The parallel list is the set-level Round 2 structure rather than something a source confirms for #137 specifically, hence 'probable' on each parallel.
- Jeff Allender's House of ChecklistsUFC Round 2 (2009 Topps) checklist, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProChael Sonnen, Demian Maia #137 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 2, accessed September 22, 2026
Copies available
Nothing from the archive is currently available.
Go deeper
- The card record2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #137
- Chael Sonnen archiveKey cards and eras
- 2009 Topps UFC Round 2Set record