Why this is the rookie
Topps designates the card: Checklist Insider's 2025 Topps Chrome UFC checklist carries it as '136 Joshua Van RC', and MMA Rookies independently names it his True Rookie Card. It is also the first of the RC-tagged cards to ship, on 27 June 2025, ahead of Chrome Sapphire on 25 July and everything after. Nothing earlier exists — Topps' 2024 UFC checklists have no Van entry at all, two years after his UFC debut. No source consulted names a different card.
Van's first card of any kind, from a product released June 27, 2025 — two years after his UFC debut and six months before he took the flyweight title. The base card sits inside one of the deepest parallel ladders Topps runs, from unnumbered Refractors down to a 1/1 SuperFractor.
SportsCardsPro's item-details field for #136 says rookie 'No' while the sale listings on the same page call it a rookie card — a database field issue, not a real disagreement. Sellers also describe the Sapphire #136 and the Topps Now #20 as separate 'rookie cards'.
Identifying it
- Card #136 in the 200-card base set
- RC designation; eBay listings read 'Joshua Van Flyweight Rookie #136'
- Nameplate reads FLYWEIGHT
- Base is plain chrome — no refractor rainbow, colour border or serial number
What gets mistaken for it
| What you'll read | What's true |
|---|---|
| The Teal 'Velocity' Refractor is its own card. | Seller shorthand for the Teal Lazer Refractor /175 parallel of #136; Checklist Insider lists the parallel as Teal Lazer Refractor /175. |
Parallels
Card milestones
Five separate questions, kept separate. How these are defined.
- Earliest licensed card2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 Verified
- First MMA card2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 Verified
- First UFC card2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 Verified
- First certified autograph2025 Topps Chrome UFC #CRA-JV High confidence
- Recognized rookie card2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 Verified
The evidence behind each
- 2025Earliest licensed card — Checklist Insider's 2025 Topps Chrome UFC checklist prints the base line as '136 Joshua Van RC' with a 27 June 2025 release date. He appears in none of Topps' 2024 UFC checklists — 2024 Topps Chrome UFC (20 March 2024), 2024 Topps Midnight UFC and 2024 Topps Royalty UFC all lack him — despite his June 2023 UFC debut, and no Panini-era card of him turned up.
- 2025First MMA card — No card of him from any other sport or category appears in any checklist or database consulted, so his first MMA card is also his first card.
- 2025First UFC card — Checklist Insider's 2025 Topps Chrome UFC base checklist lists him at #136 with an RC tag; no earlier UFC-licensed product carries him.
- 2025First certified autograph — SportsCardsPro catalogues the card and its refractor, blue, green, gold and Sapphire parallels under '2025 Topps Chrome UFC Rookie Autograph', and eBay's catalogue entry is titled '2025 Topps Chrome UFC - Chrome Rookie Autographs Joshua Van #CRA-JV (AU, RC)'. It comes from the same product as his base rookie and so predates every later signature.
- 2025Recognized rookie card — Checklist Insider prints '136 Joshua Van RC' on the 2025 Topps Chrome UFC checklist and MMA Rookies names the card his True Rookie Card. Chrome is also the earliest of his RC-tagged issues: Chrome Sapphire follows on 25 July 2025, then Midnight, Knockout, Finest and Royalty.
Grading & population
Population figures will be taken directly from the grading companies and dated when they are. None are shown yet.
Sources & research Verified×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.
Joshua Van's rookie card: 2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 — Joshua Van.
MMA Rookies lists '2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 Joshua Van' as his True Rookie Card and everything else it lists as other rookie cards from later 2025 products. Checklist Insider's 2025 Topps Chrome UFC checklist shows '#136 Joshua Van RC' with a June 27, 2025 release date, earlier than Chrome Sapphire (July 25), Knockout (October 24), Finest (November 7) and Royalty (February 6, 2026). Nothing earlier exists: the 2024 Topps Chrome UFC checklist (March 20, 2024) has no Van, and no Panini-era Van card turned up in searching, even though his UFC debut was June 2023.
2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136 — Joshua Van.
Copies available
Nothing from the archive is currently available.
Go deeper
- The card record2025 Topps Chrome UFC #136
- Joshua Van archiveKey cards and eras
- 2025 Topps Chrome UFCSet record