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Earliest card#052
Earliest card research

Maurício Rua
Earliest Card

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

  • Earliest card2006 PRIDE FC #052
  • SubjectMaurício Rua
  • Year2006
  • ManufacturerPride FC
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
Probable×2Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the earliest card

No Shogun Rua card found on this research carries an RC designation. SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' on 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #82, 2010 Topps UFC #96, 2011 Finest UFC #74, 2015 Topps UFC Knockout #75 and 2021 Panini Prizm UFC #153, and the archive's own 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 checklist (TCDB-derived) records no RC flag on #82 either. Under the archive's earliest-card rule the key therefore points at the earliest significant card: the 2006 Pride FC issue, which Sports Card Investor lists as 'Shogun Rua 2006 Pride FC #52 Base'. That card's number rests on a single source, so its own confidence is 'probable' — the finding that he has no true rookie card is the firmer half of this judgement.

The card that actually starts his run, and it is Japanese. It comes from the year after he won the 2005 PRIDE middleweight grand prix by knocking out Ricardo Arona, when he was the best light heavyweight in the world and had never fought in North America. Anyone building a complete Shogun collection has to begin outside the Topps and Panini catalogue entirely, and his PRIDE-era cardboard begins and ends with this set.

The dispute

Collectibles.com dates his rookie year to 2013, which conflicts with every other source and with the 2006 and 2009 cards recorded here; it reads as an artifact of what that site tracks rather than a hobby claim. Beyond that there is no disagreement to referee — nobody reachable asserts an RC-designated Shogun card. The card databases that would normally settle the 2006 Pride FC checklist and any RC flag could not be consulted.

Identifying it

  • Sports Card Investor's set page lists the entry as 'Shogun Rua 2006 Pride FC #52 Base'; the archive writes Pride FC numbers with three digits, so #052
  • Cardbase counts 583 cards across variations: Base (142), Gold Foil Signature (141), Silver Foil Signature (141), Holographic (140) and ten PR-1 to PR-10 promos
  • A foil facsimile signature across the photo is the quickest way to tell a Gold or Silver Foil Signature copy from a plain base card
  • PRIDE-licensed, Japanese-issued, sold in packs in Japan — DSE-era names fill the checklist (Fedor Emelianenko at #14, Alistair Overeem at #1, Anderson Silva at #003)

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Shogun's first card is a 2009 Topps UFC card.Those are his first UFC-licensed cards. The Japanese Pride FC issue precedes them by three years.

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Gold Foil Signature
—
Probable
Silver Foil Signature
—
Probable
Holographic
—
Uncertain

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

Maurício Rua's earliest card: 2006 PRIDE FC #052 — Maurício Rua.

No Shogun Rua card found on this research carries an RC designation. SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' on 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #82, 2010 Topps UFC #96, 2011 Finest UFC #74, 2015 Topps UFC Knockout #75 and 2021 Panini Prizm UFC #153, and the archive's own 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 checklist (TCDB-derived) records no RC flag on #82 either. Under the archive's earliest-card rule the key therefore points at the earliest significant card: the 2006 Pride FC issue, which Sports Card Investor lists as 'Shogun Rua 2006 Pride FC #52 Base'. That card's number rests on a single source, so its own confidence is 'probable' — the finding that he has no true rookie card is the firmer half of this judgement.

Probable

2006 PRIDE FC #052 — Maurício Rua.

Uncertain

The card number is single-sourced. Only Sports Card Investor's set page names a Rua card, and it tracks just 12 cards from the set, so #52 has no second confirmation; Cardbase's checklist table for the set returns 'There are no records to display', and no eBay listing or catalogue page for a Shogun card from this set surfaced. Which variations exist for his number specifically — Gold Foil Signature, Silver Foil Signature, Holographic — is inferred from the set's composition, not from a checklist line. TCDB, which holds the full checklist, is not reachable.

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