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Working pick#30
Rookie research

Mackenzie Dern
Rookie Card Case

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

  • Working pick2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #30
  • SubjectMackenzie Dern
  • Year2018
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceHigh confidence
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
Verified×1High confidence×1Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the working pick

MMA Rookies names 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #30 her 'True Rookie Card' and lists 'Other Rookies: None'. Cardboard Connection's checklist for the product confirms #30 as 'Mackenzie Dern - Strawweight' in a 50-card base set released 28 November 2018, and SportsCardsPro carries the same card. It is also her earliest card of any kind: Cardboard Connection's 2018 Topps UFC Chrome checklist (19 September 2018, 100 base cards) does not include her, and no pre-2018 jiu-jitsu, Legacy FC or Invicta FC card of her was found on any reachable source.

Dern's first licensed card of any kind, and the only base card of her issued before 2019. It came out 28 November 2018, after she had already won two UFC fights, because Topps had left her off the 100-card 2018 Topps UFC Chrome checklist two months earlier. A 50-card high-end base set means the print run behind it is small compared with a normal flagship rookie.

The dispute

MMA Rookies calls Museum Collection #30 her true rookie card, but SportsCardsPro's structured 'Is Rookie Card' field for the same card reads No. Collectibles.com states only that she 'debuted as a Rookie in 2018' without naming the card. it was not possible to confirm from a reachable source whether the card front carries a printed RC logo — 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection is a high-end product and RC branding was inconsistent in that era — so the rookie designation rests on it being the first licensed card rather than on a logo I have verified.

Commonly misidentified

Sellers list the #MA-MD autograph as a 'rookie autograph' and Prizm #76 as a rookie. One eBay listing for the MA-MD autograph has the name misspelled 'Mackenzie Dean', which keeps it out of name searches.

Identifying it

  • Card #30 of a 50-card base set
  • Checklist line reads 'Mackenzie Dern - Strawweight' (Cardboard Connection)
  • Product released 28 November 2018; Sean O'Malley and Israel Adesanya (#42) are in the same base set
  • Base parallels are Copper, Gold /75, Sapphire /25, Ruby /8 and Emerald 1/1

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Copper
—
High confidence
Gold
/75
High confidence
Sapphire
/25
High confidence
Ruby
/8
High confidence
Emerald
1/1
High confidence

Grading & population

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

Sources & research Verified×1High confidence×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.

High confidence

Mackenzie Dern's rookie card: 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #30 — Mackenzie Dern.

MMA Rookies names 2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #30 her 'True Rookie Card' and lists 'Other Rookies: None'. Cardboard Connection's checklist for the product confirms #30 as 'Mackenzie Dern - Strawweight' in a 50-card base set released 28 November 2018, and SportsCardsPro carries the same card. It is also her earliest card of any kind: Cardboard Connection's 2018 Topps UFC Chrome checklist (19 September 2018, 100 base cards) does not include her, and no pre-2018 jiu-jitsu, Legacy FC or Invicta FC card of her was found on any reachable source.

Verified

2018 Topps UFC Museum Collection #30 — Mackenzie Dern.

Uncertain

SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' data field says No; MMA Rookies says it is her true rookie. The parallel list is the product-wide list from Cardboard Connection — I did not see a Dern-specific confirmation of each colour.

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