Collector profile “The Last Stylebender”

Israel Adesanya

Adesanya arrived in the UFC in February 2018 and had exactly one card that year: 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42, the RC. Everything else — his first Knockout, Chrome and autograph cards — came in 2019 and 2020 as he went from interim champion to undisputed middleweight champion, before Panini's 2021 debut sets made him a fixture of Prizm and Select checklists.

2018Rookie year

#42Rookie card

17Key cards

UFC debutFebruary 11, 2018 · UFC 221
DivisionsMiddleweight · Light Heavyweight
StatusActive · UFC (as of Sept 2026)
FromLagos, Nigeria

Rookie card

2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 Israel Adesanya — front

#42

The rookie

#42

Rookie card

2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42

Adesanya's only RC-designated card and his only card dated 2018, released November 28, 2018, less than a year after his UFC debut. Topps' own Ripped blog presents it as his rookie card and notes the back recaps his 2018 wins over Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori and Brad Tavares. Museum Collection was a high-end, 50-card product, so this is not a cheap retail rookie.

Commonly misidentified

Sellers sometimes call the 2019 Topps Chrome UFC #57 a rookie because it is his first Chrome card; it carries no RC designation.

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Rookie card guide Card record

Key Adesanya cards

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

2019 Topps UFC Knockout #34

2019 Topps Chrome UFC #57

2019 Topps UFC Museum Collection #28

2020 Topps UFC #75

2021 Panini Prizm UFC #120

2021 Panini Select UFC #64

2024 Topps Chrome UFC #81

Card history

Adesanya's rookie cards come from the Topps era. His RC is 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42, released on November 28, 2018, with Copper, Gold /75, Sapphire /25, Ruby /8 and Emerald 1/1 parallels. His first Chrome card, 2019 Topps UFC Chrome #57, followed on September 11, 2019.

His first run of certified autographs came in 2020 Topps UFC Knockout (released March 25, 2020): Knockout Autographs KA-IA, the AKA Ink AKA-IS and the Autograph Jumbo Fight Mat Relic AJR-IA. TCDB also lists 2019 Knockout 'UFC Fire Autographs' Red /8 and Gold 1/1 versions, but Cardboard Connection's checklist for that insert doesn't include him.

Topps held the UFC licence from 2009 to 2020. Panini's first UFC set, 2021 Prizm (April 28, 2021), gave Adesanya a Champion Signatures autograph. Panini's run ended with products such as 2023 Immaculate Collection (release date January 5, 2024), which includes a DA-AI dual autograph /25 with Alex Pereira.

In January 2024, Fanatics announced that the licence would move back to Topps, starting with 2024 Topps Chrome UFC. That set includes his base #81 and a Marks of Champions autograph (MOC-IAD), some of which were issued as redemptions.

Sources for every paragraph

Autographs

7 certified autographs in the archive.

2020 Topps UFC Knockout #KA-IA Israel Adesanya — front

2020Topps UFC Knockout #KA-IA Auto

2020Topps UFC #UFCA-IA Auto

DA-AI 2023

Alex Pereira / Israel Adesanya

2023 Panini Immaculate Collection UFC

Photograph to come

2023Panini Immaculate Collection UFC #DA-AI Auto/25

AKA-IS 2020

Israel Adesanya

2020 Topps UFC Knockout

Photograph to come

2020Topps UFC Knockout #AKA-IS Auto/10

AJR-IA 2020

Israel Adesanya

2020 Topps UFC Knockout

Photograph to come

2020Topps UFC Knockout #AJR-IA AutoRelic/50

CS-IAD 2021

Israel Adesanya

2021 Panini Prizm UFC

Photograph to come

2021Panini Prizm UFC #CS-IAD Auto

2024 Topps Chrome UFC #MOC-IAD — Israel Adesanya — front

2024Topps Chrome UFC #MOC-IAD Auto

Numbered & parallels

Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.

2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 Gold /75 — Israel Adesanya — front

2018Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 Gold Rookie/75

2019Topps Chrome UFC #57 Gold Refractor /50

Card eras

2018

Museum Collection rookie

One card: 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 RC (released November 28, 2018), with Copper, Gold /75, Sapphire /25, Ruby /8 and Emerald 1/1 parallels.

2019

Knockout, Chrome and first autographs

Base cards in Knockout (#34, May), Chrome (#57, September) and Museum Collection (#28, November). TCDB's only 2019 autographs are the Knockout UFC Fire Autographs Gold 1/1 and Red /8.

2020

Champion autographs in the last Topps years

2020 Knockout added Knockout Autographs, AKA Ink /10 and autographed Jumbo Fight Mat Relics; flagship 2020 Topps UFC (#75) added UFC Athlete and 1985 Topps autographs.

2021–2023

Panini era

Panini's first Prizm (#120) and Select (#64 Concourse) UFC sets both include him, and TCDB lists hundreds of 2021 Adesanya cards, mostly Chronicles subsets and parallels.

2024–2026

Topps returns

Topps Chrome UFC #81 in 2024 plus autograph inserts; he remains on Topps checklists into 2026 (TCDB lists 2025 and 2026 cards).

Rookie parallels

Base

—

Unnumbered

Copper

—

Probable

Gold

/75

Verified

Sapphire

/25

Verified

Ruby

Verified

Emerald

Verified

Sets

Where Adesanya's key cards come from.

20182018 Topps UFC Museum Collection2 key cards
20192019 Topps UFC Knockout1 key card
20192019 Topps Chrome UFC2 key cards
20192019 Topps UFC Museum Collection1 key card
20202020 Topps UFC Knockout3 key cards
20202020 Topps UFC2 key cards
20212021 Panini Prizm UFC2 key cards
20212021 Panini Select UFC1 key card
20232023 Panini Immaculate Collection UFC1 key card
20242024 Topps Chrome UFC2 key cards

Buying & wanted

Wanted by FightCardboard

012018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 RC — Sapphire /25, Ruby /8 or Emerald 1/1
022018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 RC base, graded
032019 Topps Chrome UFC #57 Gold /50 or Orange /25 refractor
042019 Topps UFC Knockout UFC Fire Autographs Red /8 or Gold 1/1 (UFCF-IA)

Offer one

Available here

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

Research

Rookie Cards

Israel Adesanya Rookie Card: 2018 Museum Collection #42 and What Came Next

Adesanya had one card in 2018, and it came from a one-pack, high-end box. Here is what makes it the rookie and why his 2019 Chrome card is not.

September 21, 2026

Israel Adesanya Rookie Card: 2018 Museum Collection #42 and What Came Next

Sets

Topps Chrome UFC: 2017–2019 and the 2024 Return

Three chromium sets, then Panini took the UFC licence, then Topps came back. The run year by year, with the rookies and autographs worth knowing.

September 21, 2026

Topps Chrome UFC: 2017–2019 and the 2024 Return

Sources & research Verified×9High confidence×12Probable×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.

Verified

Israel Adesanya's rookie card: 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #42 — Israel Adesanya.

TCDB lists only one Adesanya card dated 2018 — Museum Collection #42 — and it carries TCDB's RC flag and appears on TCDB's 20-card rookie list for the set. The card itself shows the Topps RC logo. Topps' own Ripped blog (August 15, 2024) presents #42 as his rookie card. His 2019 Knockout #34 and 2019 Chrome #57 are not RC-flagged; #57 is absent from TCDB's 2019 Chrome rookie list.