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Earliest card#127
Earliest card research

Dominick Cruz
Earliest Card

What exists, what does not, and which card the archive treats as the earliest.

  • Earliest card2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127
  • SubjectDominick Cruz
  • Year2010
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
Probable×2Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the earliest card

No source consulted designates an official Dominick Cruz rookie card. SportsCardsPro's data field reads 'Is Rookie Card: No' on every Cruz card checked, including 2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127, 2011 Finest UFC #66, 2011 Moment of Truth #39 and 2021 Panini Prizm UFC #2. Collectibles.com states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2010', which matches the Knockout card's December 2010 release but names no specific card. Because he fought his whole pre-title career in WEC, which had no card programme, and because Topps' 2010 UFC Series 4 checklist contains no WEC fighters, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127 is the earliest Cruz card found anywhere — so it is filed as his earliest card rather than as a rookie card. TCDB, COMC and PSA are not reachable and Beckett's database was in maintenance, so an RC flag on one of those sites cannot be ruled out.

The earliest Dominick Cruz card found in this research. Topps UFC Knockout was a 150-card set released in December 2010, the same month Cruz beat Scott Jorgensen at WEC 53 to unify the WEC belt with the inaugural UFC bantamweight title — which is what got a fighter who had spent his whole career in WEC onto a UFC checklist at all. Topps' other 2010 UFC product, Series 4, has no WEC fighters on its checklist.

The dispute

Sellers commonly attach 'RC' to 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #39, while SportsCardsPro marks every Cruz card 'Is Rookie Card: No'. No checklist consulted shows an RC logo on any Cruz card, and the sites that normally settle this (TCDB, COMC, PSA, Beckett) could not be consulted or offline during this research.

Commonly misidentified

Parallels are regularly sold as 'the rookie' — the Moment of Truth #39 Onyx and the Finest #66 Refractor both turn up in listings headed 'Cruz RC'. They are parallels of the 2011 base cards, and neither is his earliest card.

Identifying it

  • Base card #127 in a 150-card set
  • Gold parallel of the same card is serial-numbered /288; base card is unnumbered
  • Cruz is a WEC/UFC bantamweight champion card in a set otherwise heavy on UFC history subjects

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Cruz's first card is one of the 2011 Topps issues.2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127 predates Finest, Moment of Truth and Title Shot; collectibles.com also dates his card debut to 2010.

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Gold
/288
Probable

Grading & population

Population figures will be taken directly from the grading companies and dated when they are. None are shown yet.

Sources & research Probable×2Uncertain×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

Dominick Cruz's earliest card: 2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127 — Dominick Cruz.

No source consulted designates an official Dominick Cruz rookie card. SportsCardsPro's data field reads 'Is Rookie Card: No' on every Cruz card checked, including 2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127, 2011 Finest UFC #66, 2011 Moment of Truth #39 and 2021 Panini Prizm UFC #2. Collectibles.com states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2010', which matches the Knockout card's December 2010 release but names no specific card. Because he fought his whole pre-title career in WEC, which had no card programme, and because Topps' 2010 UFC Series 4 checklist contains no WEC fighters, 2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127 is the earliest Cruz card found anywhere — so it is filed as his earliest card rather than as a rookie card. TCDB, COMC and PSA are not reachable and Beckett's database was in maintenance, so an RC flag on one of those sites cannot be ruled out.

Probable

2010 Topps UFC Knockout #127 — Dominick Cruz.

Uncertain

The card number 127 and the Gold /288 parallel come from SportsCardsPro only. Cardboard Connection confirms the set's 150-card size and December 2010 release but publishes no checklist, and TCDB, COMC and PSA could not be consulted while Beckett's database was in maintenance, so no genuinely independent confirmation of #127 was obtained.

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