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Earliest card#73
Earliest card research

Mirko Filipović
Earliest Card

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

  • Earliest card1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix #73
  • SubjectMirko Filipović
  • Year1997
  • ManufacturerBandai
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
Probable×2Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the earliest card

Filipović has no card carrying an RC logo. His first three card eras are Japanese kickboxing and PRIDE issues, and by the time Topps put him in a UFC-licensed product (2010) he had been fighting professionally for nine years — SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' on both 2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #6 and 2010 Topps UFC Main Event #43. Under the archive's earliest-card rule the key points at the earliest significant card: 1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix #73, his first solo card, issued under his early kickboxing name Mirko Tigar. Two independent eBay listings and an ebay.co.uk catalogue entry establish the set (1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix) and that Mirko Tigar is Filipović; #73 itself is confirmed by a single PSA 6 listing, which is why the card's own confidence is 'probable'.

The earliest Filipović card anyone offers, and the only one that predates his MMA career: a Japanese Bandai carddass card from the 1997 K-1 Grand Prix series, printed under his early kickboxing name 'Mirko Tigar'. It is his first solo card, four years before he fought Kazuyuki Fujita in August 2001, and copies surface almost exclusively out of Japan.

The dispute

There is no agreed Cro Cop rookie card. Four different cards are marketed as one: the 1997 Bandai #73 (seller's item specifics read '1st Edition, Rookie'), the 2001 Epoch #SPA-07 (eBay catalogue prints '(RC)'), and both 2010 Topps UFC issues (listing titles read 'RC', while SportsCardsPro's data field says 'No'). No source consulted reports an RC logo printed on any of them.

Commonly misidentified

Listings sell the 2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #6 Gold/Onyx/Ruby/Diamond and Bronze /88 parallels as 'the rookie' when they are parallels of the same base card. One eBay title bundles '#6 RC 137 115 110 99' as though those were all Cro Cop rookie numbers; #6 is his base card in that set and the rest are other cards in the lot.

Identifying it

  • Card #73 in the 1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix series
  • Named 'Mirko Tigar' on the card, not Cro Cop or Filipović — the usual reason collectors miss it
  • Japanese-language Bandai carddass format; the same series carries dual cards at #121 (with Jerome Le Banner) and #127 (with Ernesto Hoost)
  • A PSA 6 example exists, cert 67784726 per the listing

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Cro Cop's first card is a PRIDE or UFC card.His first cards are 1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix kickboxing cards issued under the name Mirko Tigar, nine years before the 2006 DSE Pride set and thirteen before any Topps UFC card.

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

Mirko Filipović's earliest card: 1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix #73 — Mirko Filipović.

Filipović has no card carrying an RC logo. His first three card eras are Japanese kickboxing and PRIDE issues, and by the time Topps put him in a UFC-licensed product (2010) he had been fighting professionally for nine years — SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' on both 2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #6 and 2010 Topps UFC Main Event #43. Under the archive's earliest-card rule the key points at the earliest significant card: 1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix #73, his first solo card, issued under his early kickboxing name Mirko Tigar. Two independent eBay listings and an ebay.co.uk catalogue entry establish the set (1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix) and that Mirko Tigar is Filipović; #73 itself is confirmed by a single PSA 6 listing, which is why the card's own confidence is 'probable'.

Probable

1997 Bandai K-1 Grand Prix #73 — Mirko Filipović.

Uncertain

The set and the Tigar/Cro Cop identity are corroborated by several listings, but card #73 specifically was seen in only one listing (the PSA 6). No checklist source for the 1997 Bandai set was reachable — TCDB could not be reached and no card-guide site covers Japanese carddass.

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