The rookie
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42
Bisping's first card of any kind, in Topps' first UFC-licensed product. Like the rest of the Round 1 base run it is a 'UFC Debut' card, so it commemorates the TUF 3 Finale on 24 June 2006 where he stopped Josh Haynes to win the light heavyweight tournament — the fight that started the whole career. It is the card most of the market treats as his rookie, though it shares the front with Haynes.
The Silver /288 and Gold parallels of #42 get listed as 'the rookie card' without the parallel name; the base card is unnumbered. Listings also sometimes call the Victorious Debuts #VD11 Gold /88 a rookie card — it is an insert.
- Earliest licensed card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 High confidence
- First MMA card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 High confidence
- First UFC card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 High confidence
- First certified autograph2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs #A-MB High confidence
- Recognized rookie card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 High confidence
The evidence behind each
- 2009Earliest licensed card — Jeff Allender's House of Checklists gives #42 as 'Michael Bisping - Josh Haynes' and SportsCardsPro catalogues the same card. Collectibles.com's register shows no Bisping card earlier than 2009, and no card from his pre-UFC British career exists in any checklist consulted.
- 2009First MMA card — Collectibles.com's register lists 2009 as his earliest year in any category.
- 2009First UFC card — Jeff Allender's Round 1 checklist; Topps did not hold the UFC licence before 2009.
- 2009First certified autograph — Jeff Allender's Round 1 autograph checklist lists all 38 codes and gives A-MB Michael Bisping; SportsCardsPro carries the same card. Nothing signed predates Topps' first UFC product.
- 2009Recognized rookie card — Collectibles.com's register carries it as '2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 RC Michael Bisping / Josh Haynes' and dates his rookie year to 2009. eBay's catalogue also titles Round 1 base cards '(RC)'.
Key Bisping cards
13 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.
Card history
Bisping fought for five years before a card of him existed, because nothing before Topps' first UFC licence covered him — his cardboard starts in 2009, and it starts twice in the same year. Round 1, in February, built its base run as 'UFC Debut' cards pairing each fighter with his debut opponent, so Bisping's #42 is shared with Josh Haynes and commemorates the TUF 3 Finale of 24 June 2006. Round 2 followed in the autumn with #43, his first solo card. Both are sold as the rookie, which is the argument worth knowing before buying one.
Round 1 is the earlier card and the usual pick, and it is the one a card database designates: Collectibles.com's register carries it as '2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 RC Michael Bisping / Josh Haynes' and dates his rookie year to 2009. The case for #43 is simply that it has him on it alone. eBay catalogue titles and grader labels read 'RC' on both, while SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on every 2009 Topps UFC Bisping card, which looks like the set never carrying a printed designation rather than a judgement on either. Two things to watch in listings: the Silver /288 and Gold versions of #42 get sold as 'the rookie' when the base card is unnumbered, and the Gold is often described as limited to 432 despite carrying no serial number at all. The /188 parallel of #43 is confusing in a different way, catalogued as Silver on Jeff Allender's checklist and as Onyx in some listings.
Unlike several of his 2009 classmates he signed in his rookie year: Round 1 Autographs #A-MB came in the same product as the base card, out of a 38-card autograph checklist falling roughly one in five packs, with a Red Ink parallel capped at 25 that remains the scarcest Bisping card of the run. The same set also gave him the 20-card Victorious Debuts insert at #VD11, whose Gold /88 is the graded chase, and which sellers sometimes mislabel as a rookie card. Topps signed him again that autumn for Round 2's Fighter Autographs, and then in 2010's flagship - the set the market still calls Series 4 - which carried him at base #15 with a Bronze /88 and at Fighters & Personalities Autographs #FA-MB, the accessible early signature for anyone who cannot land the Red Ink. Both autograph subsets use the same code, FA-MB, a year apart, so the product name is what identifies the card.
The Topps middle years run deep while he was the promotion's biggest British draw. Moment of Truth #131 shipped alongside his TUF 14 coaching stint opposite Jason Miller, and that set is the one to mine for his British-event cards — it carries a Collision Course card pairing him with Miller and a Fight Poster card for the UFC 89 knockout of Chris Leben in Birmingham. The card actually chased from the stretch is 2012 Bloodlines' International Airmail Stamps #IA-MB, a British-stamp treatment numbered to 50 and the scarcest non-autograph Bisping card. 2015 Champions then put him in Scarlet Signatures #SSI-MB /25 — a set called Champions, a year before he was one — and 2016 Knockout added a Fight Mat Relic #FMR-MB /188 with Gold /88 and Ruby /8 tiers, though nothing ties the swatch to UFC 199 specifically.
Under Panini he became a retired-legend autograph subject rather than a base-set fighter: Chronicles UFC Flux Autographs #FA-MBS, Immaculate Moments Autographs #MO-MBS, Select Signatures #SG-MBP and Prizm Legendary Signatures #LS-MBS, the last of which turns up dated both 2022 and 2023 in listings and exists in Green, Mojo /25 and other finishes under the same code. Topps' return in 2024 finally marked the July 2019 Hall of Fame induction: Chrome UFC put him back in a Topps base set at #13, with Embedded #EMB-7 and 1954 Topps #FFT-13 inserts, and gave him a Hall of Fame Autograph #HFA-MBI stepping through /150, /50, /25, /10, /5 and a Superfractor 1/1 — the only Bisping card with a confirmed one-of-one tier.
Autographs
6 certified autographs in the archive.
Numbered & parallels
Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.
Card eras
Round 1 (February) gave him base #42 with Josh Haynes, the 20-card Victorious Debuts insert at #VD11 and — unusually for a 2009 subject — an autograph, #A-MB, with a Red Ink /25 parallel. Round 2 (autumn) added his first solo base card, #43.
2010 Topps UFC, the set collectors still call Series 4, carries him at #15 with a Bronze /88 parallel, and the companion 2010 Topps UFC Autographs set gave him #FA-MB. Main Event and Knockout ran parallel checklists the same year.
Moment of Truth #131, Title Shot #49, Finest and Bloodlines all carried him while he was the UFC's biggest British draw. The one collectors actually chase from this stretch is the 2012 Bloodlines International Airmail Stamps insert #IA-MB, numbered to 50, which uses a British-stamp motif.
He beat Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 on 4 June 2016 to become the first British UFC champion. Topps had already put him in Champions Scarlet Signatures #SSI-MB /25 in 2015; 2016 Knockout added a Fight Mat Relic #FMR-MB /188 with Gold /88 and Ruby /8 tiers.
With Panini holding the licence Bisping became a retired-legend autograph subject: Chronicles UFC Flux Autographs #FA-MBS, Immaculate Moments Autographs #MO-MBS, Prizm Legendary Signatures #LS-MBS and Select Signatures #SG-MBP.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC put him back in a Topps base set at #13 and gave him a Hall of Fame Autograph, #HFA-MBI, refractor-tiered from /150 down to a one-of-one Superfractor — the card that finally marks the 2019 induction.
Rookie parallels
Sets
Where Bisping's key cards come from.
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 11 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs1 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 1 Victorious Debuts1 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 21 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 2 Autographs1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC (Series 4)1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Autographs1 key card
- 20112011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth1 key card
- 20122012 Topps UFC Bloodlines International Airmail Stamps1 key card
- 20152015 Topps UFC Champions Scarlet Signatures1 key card
- 20162016 Topps UFC Knockout Fight Mat Relics1 key card
- 20232023 Panini Prizm UFC Legendary Signatures1 key card
- 20242024 Topps Chrome UFC Hall of Fame Autographs1 key card
Buying & wanted
- 012009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs #A-MB Red Ink /25 — his scarcest signature and a same-year rookie auto
- 022009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 Silver /288, the serial-numbered version of the debut/rookie card
- 032009 Topps UFC Round 1 Victorious Debuts Gold #VD11 /88
- 042012 Topps UFC Bloodlines International Airmail Stamps #IA-MB /50 — the British-stamp insert
Nothing from the archive is currently available.
Cards come and go one at a time. Selling one?
No FightCardboard verified sales recorded yet.
A verified sale is a transaction we completed or watched happen. Until there is one, there is nothing here to cite.
Sources & research High confidence×15Probable×4
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.
Michael Bisping's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 — Michael Bisping / Josh Haynes.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 is Topps' first UFC-licensed product and the first set of any kind to carry Bisping. Card #42 is his entry in Round 1's 'UFC Debut' base run, sharing the card with Josh Haynes because Bisping's UFC debut was the TUF 3 Finale win over Haynes on 24 June 2006. Sellers and graders list it as a rookie card — the eBay listings for the base and the Gold parallel both read 'Rookie Card' — and it predates Round 2 by roughly seven months, Round 1 having shipped in February 2009 and Round 2 in the autumn.
- SportsCardsProJosh Haynes, Michael Bisping #42 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 1, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBayMichael Bisping Josh Haynes 2009 Topps UFC #42 Gold 432 Made Rookie Card PGI 10, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 2 - Michael Bisping #43 Silver /188 (RC) (catalogue), accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProMichael Bisping #43 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 2, accessed September 22, 2026
- WikipediaMichael Bisping, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBayPGI 9 Michael Bisping - Josh Haynes 2009 Topps UFC #42 Round 1 Rookie Card, accessed September 22, 2026
Bisping fought for five years before a card of him existed, because nothing before Topps' first UFC licence covered him — his cardboard starts in 2009, and it starts twice in the same year. Round 1, in February, built its base run as 'UFC Debut' cards pairing each fighter with his debut opponent, so Bisping's #42 is shared with Josh Haynes and commemorates the TUF 3 Finale of 24 June 2006. Round 2 followed in the autumn with #43, his first solo card. Both are sold as the rookie, which is the argument worth knowing before buying one.
Round 1 is the earlier card and the usual pick, and it is the one a card database designates: Collectibles.com's register carries it as '2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 RC Michael Bisping / Josh Haynes' and dates his rookie year to 2009. The case for #43 is simply that it has him on it alone. eBay catalogue titles and grader labels read 'RC' on both, while SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on every 2009 Topps UFC Bisping card, which looks like the set never carrying a printed designation rather than a judgement on either. Two things to watch in listings: the Silver /288 and Gold versions of #42 get sold as 'the rookie' when the base card is unnumbered, and the Gold is often described as limited to 432 despite carrying no serial number at all. The /188 parallel of #43 is confusing in a different way, catalogued as Silver on Jeff Allender's checklist and as Onyx in some listings.
Unlike several of his 2009 classmates he signed in his rookie year: Round 1 Autographs #A-MB came in the same product as the base card, out of a 38-card autograph checklist falling roughly one in five packs, with a Red Ink parallel capped at 25 that remains the scarcest Bisping card of the run. The same set also gave him the 20-card Victorious Debuts insert at #VD11, whose Gold /88 is the graded chase, and which sellers sometimes mislabel as a rookie card. Topps signed him again that autumn for Round 2's Fighter Autographs, and then in 2010's flagship - the set the market still calls Series 4 - which carried him at base #15 with a Bronze /88 and at Fighters & Personalities Autographs #FA-MB, the accessible early signature for anyone who cannot land the Red Ink. Both autograph subsets use the same code, FA-MB, a year apart, so the product name is what identifies the card.
The Topps middle years run deep while he was the promotion's biggest British draw. Moment of Truth #131 shipped alongside his TUF 14 coaching stint opposite Jason Miller, and that set is the one to mine for his British-event cards — it carries a Collision Course card pairing him with Miller and a Fight Poster card for the UFC 89 knockout of Chris Leben in Birmingham. The card actually chased from the stretch is 2012 Bloodlines' International Airmail Stamps #IA-MB, a British-stamp treatment numbered to 50 and the scarcest non-autograph Bisping card. 2015 Champions then put him in Scarlet Signatures #SSI-MB /25 — a set called Champions, a year before he was one — and 2016 Knockout added a Fight Mat Relic #FMR-MB /188 with Gold /88 and Ruby /8 tiers, though nothing ties the swatch to UFC 199 specifically.
Under Panini he became a retired-legend autograph subject rather than a base-set fighter: Chronicles UFC Flux Autographs #FA-MBS, Immaculate Moments Autographs #MO-MBS, Select Signatures #SG-MBP and Prizm Legendary Signatures #LS-MBS, the last of which turns up dated both 2022 and 2023 in listings and exists in Green, Mojo /25 and other finishes under the same code. Topps' return in 2024 finally marked the July 2019 Hall of Fame induction: Chrome UFC put him back in a Topps base set at #13, with Embedded #EMB-7 and 1954 Topps #FFT-13 inserts, and gave him a Hall of Fame Autograph #HFA-MBI stepping through /150, /50, /25, /10, /5 and a Superfractor 1/1 — the only Bisping card with a confirmed one-of-one tier.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #42 — Michael Bisping / Josh Haynes.
- SportsCardsProJosh Haynes, Michael Bisping #42 | 2009 Topps UFC Round 1, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBayMichael Bisping Josh Haynes 2009 Topps UFC #42 Gold 432 Made Rookie Card PGI 10, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBayPGI 9 Michael Bisping - Josh Haynes 2009 Topps UFC #42 Round 1 Rookie Card, accessed September 22, 2026
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs #AMB — Michael Bisping.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Victorious Debuts #VD11 — Michael Bisping.
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #43 — Michael Bisping.
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #15 — Michael Bisping.
2010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-MB — Michael Bisping.
2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #131 — Michael Bisping.
2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines International Airmail Stamps #IA-MB — Michael Bisping.
2015 Topps UFC Champions Scarlet Signatures #SSI-MB — Michael Bisping.
2016 Topps UFC Knockout Fight Mat Relics #FMR-MB — Michael Bisping.
2023 Panini Prizm UFC Legendary Signatures #LS-MBS — Michael Bisping.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC Hall of Fame Autographs #HFA-MBI — Michael Bisping.
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Autographs #FA-MB — michael-bisping.
- NSListsUFC Round 2 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- sportscardspro.comaccessed September 23, 2026