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Working pick#55
Rookie research

Cris Cyborg
Rookie Card Case

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

  • Working pick2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #55
  • SubjectCris Cyborg
  • Year2011
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
High confidence×1Probable×1Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the working pick

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #55 is the earliest Cris Cyborg card any reachable source records, and it is in a UFC-licensed Topps product released 30 November 2011. Cardboard Connection's set page states Moment of Truth was 'the first UFC set to include Strikeforce fighters' and names Cris Cyborg Santos among them, listing '55 Cris Cyborg' in the base checklist; SportsCardsPro carries the same card as 'Cris Cyborg #55' in 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth with a Gold parallel. Two independent checks of the 2010 Leaf MMA base (100 cards) and 2010 Leaf MMA Autographs checklists show she is in neither, so there is no earlier MMA issue to displace it.

Zuffa bought Strikeforce in March 2011 and Topps folded the roster into Moment of Truth that November — Cardboard Connection calls it 'the first UFC set to include Strikeforce fighters', naming Cyborg alongside Miesha Tate, Gilbert Melendez, Robbie Lawler and Ryan Couture. Six years into her career, this 220-card base set is where she finally appears on cardboard, as the reigning Strikeforce women's featherweight champion rather than as a UFC fighter.

The dispute

Whether #55 is a 'rookie card' at all is unsettled. SportsCardsPro's data field for the card reads 'Is Rookie Card: No', and no source consulted describes a printed RC logo on 2011 Topps UFC base cards. eBay sellers call both #55 and the 2011 Leaf Metal MMA autographs 'RC'. TCDB, which is normally the arbiter of RC flags for MMA, was not reachable this research, so the RC question could not be settled; what is solid is that #55 is her first card and her first licensed card.

Commonly misidentified

Listings routinely sell the Moment of Truth Gold and Onyx /188 parallels of #55 as 'the rookie' when they are parallels of the same card. Dated-2011 Leaf Metal MMA autographs are also marketed as rookies despite the product shipping in March 2012.

Identifying it

  • Card #55 in a 220-card base set
  • Released 30 November 2011 per Cardboard Connection
  • Base card is unnumbered; the Onyx parallel carries /188 and Ruby /8
  • SportsCardsPro catalogues a Gold parallel of #55

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Cyborg has a Strikeforce-branded rookie card from 2009 or 2010.Strikeforce had no standalone trading-card licence. The 2010 Leaf MMA base set (100 cards) and 2010 Leaf MMA Autographs checklists both omit her, and Cardboard Connection dates the first Strikeforce fighters in a UFC set to Moment of Truth in November 2011.

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Gold
—
High confidence
Onyx
/188
Probable
Ruby
/8
Probable
Diamond
/1
Probable
Printing Plates
/1
Probable

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.

Probable

Cris Cyborg's rookie card: 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #55 — Cris Cyborg.

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #55 is the earliest Cris Cyborg card any reachable source records, and it is in a UFC-licensed Topps product released 30 November 2011. Cardboard Connection's set page states Moment of Truth was 'the first UFC set to include Strikeforce fighters' and names Cris Cyborg Santos among them, listing '55 Cris Cyborg' in the base checklist; SportsCardsPro carries the same card as 'Cris Cyborg #55' in 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth with a Gold parallel. Two independent checks of the 2010 Leaf MMA base (100 cards) and 2010 Leaf MMA Autographs checklists show she is in neither, so there is no earlier MMA issue to displace it.

High confidence

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #55 — Cris Cyborg.

Uncertain

Rookie designation only. The set, year, number and the Gold parallel are confirmed by two independent sources; parallel print runs come from Cardboard Connection alone.

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