Friday, October 2, 2026 Buying & trading early MMA cards — send your list
MMA cards. History. Market.
Fightcardboard The MMA Card Archive
Home/Fighters/Nick Diaz
Collector profile

Nick Diaz

Diaz's card history is shaped by where he fought rather than how good he was: the PRIDE, EliteXC and Strikeforce years produced nothing, and Topps' only 2009-era acknowledgement of him is a Fight Poster Review insert, #FPR-TUF2, showing the poster for a fight he lost to Diego Sanchez. The base cards then all arrive at once in 2012 after his UFC return — Knockout #57 on 6 April, Finest #26 on 28 August, Bloodlines #81 on 7 December — and the rookie is a real argument. The archive follows MMA Rookies in designating Knockout #57, his first base card; the market mostly goes the other way, because it is the Finest card that graders slab as ROOKIE. Keep the numbers straight against his brother's: in Bloodlines Nick is #81 and Nate is #6, in 2017 Topps Chrome UFC Nick is #22 and Nate is #55, and the one card they genuinely share is the #BDR-DD dual relic.

2012Rookie year
#57Rookie card
12Key cards
  • UFC debutSeptember 26, 2003 · UFC 44
  • DivisionsLightweight · Welterweight · Middleweight
  • FromStockton, California, U.S.
Rookie card
2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 Nick Diaz — front
#57
01

The rookie case

2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 Nick Diaz — front
#57
Rookie card · working pick Rookie disputed

2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57

The first Nick Diaz base card in any set, arriving in March 2012 after his UFC return at UFC 137. Nothing from his PRIDE, EliteXC or Strikeforce years produced one, so a fighter who debuted in the UFC in 2003 waited nine years for a card with his own name on the front. Its Silver /188, Green /88 and Red /8 ladder, over a numbered Gold, is the deepest numbered run of any Diaz base card that year.

Where sources disagree

Collectors do not agree on which 2012 card is Nick Diaz's rookie. MMA Rookies designates 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57, his first base card, as the True Rookie Card, while eBay's catalogue title for 2012 Finest UFC #26 reads '(RC)', SGC-slabbed Finest copies are labelled ROOKIE and Topps' own Ripped article prints 'RC' in the title of the Finest Gold Refractor. Neither Topps product carries a printed rookie logo, so the split is between two competing hobby conventions rather than between a logo and an opinion.

Commonly misidentified

Numbered Finest parallels — the Blue X-Fractor /188 and Gold Refractor /88 — are routinely listed as 'the rookie'; they are parallels of #26 and the base card is unnumbered. The 2009 Fight Poster Review insert also turns up titled 'Nick Diaz Rookie' because of eBay's (RC) marker. And because Nate is the better-known Topps subject of 2009–2011, sellers sometimes describe Nate's 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #66/#67 or Round 2 #3 cards as 'Diaz rookie' without saying which brother.

Probable×1View sources & research
Rookie card case Card record
MS

Card milestones

Five separate questions, kept separate. How these are defined.

The evidence behind each
  • 2009Earliest licensed card — Topps' own Ripped article states this is 'Nick Diaz's first Topps Appearance' and that 'he made his first appearance in 2009 Topps Round 2'. No licensed Diaz card from an earlier product surfaced.
  • 2009First MMA card — Same card: it is a UFC-licensed Topps issue and the earliest Diaz card identified. Topps Ripped, first-appearance statement.
  • 2009First UFC card — Topps UFC Round 2 is a UFC-licensed product; Topps Ripped names this insert his first Topps appearance.
  • 2012First certified autograph — Cardboard Connection's 2012 Topps UFC Knockout checklist lists 'FC-ND Nick Diaz' at /99. Diaz appears in no autograph checklist in the 2009–2011 Topps UFC products reviewed, and the 2012 Finest and Bloodlines signatures both shipped later in 2012.
  • 2012Recognized rookie card — MMA Rookies names '2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 Nick Diaz' his True Rookie Card and files 2012 Finest UFC #26 and 2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #81 beneath it as other rookies; Collectibles.com's register states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2012'; Cardboard Connection dates Knockout to 6 April 2012 and Finest to 28 August 2012.
02

Key Diaz cards

12 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.

2012 Finest UFC #26 Rookie
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 — Fight Poster Review #FPR-TUF2
2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #81
2013 Topps UFC Knockout #24
2017 Topps Chrome UFC #22
2022 Panini Chronicles UFC — Spectra #378
03

Card history

Diaz's card history is shaped by where he fought rather than how good he was. He debuted in the UFC at UFC 44 in 2003 and then spent his prime in PRIDE, EliteXC and Strikeforce, winning the inaugural Strikeforce welterweight title in January 2010 — none of which ran a card programme, and none of which the Topps UFC licence covered. The result is nine years of fighting with no card carrying his name on the front.

His actual first card is an oddity: the 2009 Fight Poster Review insert #FPR-TUF2, which reproduces the event poster for The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale of 5 November 2005 — a fight he lost on decision to Diego Sanchez. Topps calls it his first appearance in their UFC products and eBay's catalogue even stamps it '(RC)', but it is a poster card issued three years before any Diaz base card, and it is filed under Round 2 by Topps and under plain 2009 Topps UFC by eBay.

The base cards then all arrive at once, in three products across nine months of 2012 after his UFC return against B.J. Penn: Knockout #57 on 6 April, with Silver /188, Green /88, Red /8, a Mat Stock 1/1 and plates; Finest #26 on 28 August with the refractor ladder of White, Blue X-Fractor /188, Gold /88, Black Octa-Fractor /8 and Red 1/1; and Bloodlines #81 on 7 December with Flag /188, Black /88, Red /8 and Platinum 1/1. The rookie is genuinely disputed. The archive follows MMA Rookies, which designates Knockout #57 the True Rookie Card and files the other two beneath it, and release order agrees — #57 is his first base card by almost five months. The other side is loud: graders slab the Finest card as ROOKIE, eBay's catalogue title reads '(RC)' and Topps' own article gives it a rookie designation. Neither product prints a rookie logo or a rookie subset, and SGC applies that same ROOKIE label to the Knockout Full Contact autograph, which suggests the slab marks his rookie year rather than singling out one card.

His first certified signature is Knockout's Full Contact Autograph #FC-ND, numbered to 99, from the 6 April 2012 product — Cardboard Connection's checklist lists it at /99, and Diaz appears in no autograph checklist in the 2009–2011 Topps UFC products. It is marked on that checklist as an exchange card redeemed by mail, so the December Bloodlines Fighter Autograph #A-ND may well have reached collectors' hands first; printed-first and delivered-first are not necessarily the same card. Bloodlines also holds the one card he and Nate genuinely share, the dual relic #BDR-DD numbered to 88 with a Red /8 and Platinum 1/1. Keep the brothers' numbers straight: in that 150-card set Nick is #81 and Nate is #6. 2013 Knockout #24 followed around the Georges St-Pierre title fight, with Red, Gold, Mat and four plate versions of the same number, and 2014 added the three-window Triple Threads Combo Relic #TTCR-DSM /18 with his Cesar Gracie teammates Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez.

Then the UFC 183 no-contest and a long layoff shut the run down, and what came next arrived while he was not fighting at all: 2017 Topps Chrome UFC #22 — Nate is #55 in the same set — and the Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI of 10 May 2017, whose short, steep Green /35, Blue /25, Red /10 and Gold 1/1 ladder is the scarcest certified Diaz signature run. Panini's turn produced volume without signatures: 2022 Chronicles UFC gave him six numbers across its brand subsets, including Noir #422 /99, One #473 /99 and Spectra #378 with a ladder running Bronze and Silver through Red /199, Blue and Green /99, Purple /49 and Gold /10 to a Nebula 1/1, but no autograph anywhere in that checklist. He has not fought since UFC 266 in September 2021, and Chronicles remains the last significant release with his name in it.

Sources for every paragraph

04

Autographs

3 certified autographs in the archive.

2012Topps UFC Knockout — Full Contact Autographs #FC-ND Auto/99
2012Topps UFC Bloodlines Autographs #A-ND Auto
2017Topps UFC Knockout — Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI Auto
05

Numbered & parallels

Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.

2012Topps UFC Bloodlines — Bloodlines Dual Relics #BDR-DD Relic/88
2014Topps UFC Knockout — Triple Threads Combo Relics #TTCR-DSM Relic/18
06

Card eras

2001–2011
A decade with no cards

Diaz debuted in 2003 at UFC 44, then spent his prime in PRIDE, EliteXC and Strikeforce, winning the inaugural Strikeforce welterweight title in January 2010. None of those promotions ran a trading-card programme and Topps' UFC licence did not cover him, so a decade of fighting produced no card of his own.

2009
A poster, not a portrait

Topps' Fight Poster Review insert #FPR-TUF2 reproduces The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale poster — Diego Sanchez vs Nick Diaz, 5 November 2005. Topps calls it his first appearance in their UFC products; eBay's catalogue even stamps it (RC).

2012
Three products in nine months

After beating B.J. Penn at UFC 137, Topps put him in everything: Knockout #57 with a Full Contact Autograph #FC-ND /99 on 6 April, Finest #26 and its refractor ladder on 28 August, then Bloodlines #81, the Fighter Autograph #A-ND and the Nate/Nick dual relic #BDR-DD /88 on 7 December.

2013–2014
Knockout regular, then silence

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #24 came out around the Georges St-Pierre title fight, and 2014 added the Triple Threads Combo Relic #TTCR-DSM /18 pairing him with Cesar Gracie teammates Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez. Then the UFC 183 no-contest and a long layoff shut the run down.

2017
Signed while inactive

With Diaz not fighting at all, Topps issued Chrome UFC #22 and the Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI, whose Green /35, Blue /25, Red /10 and Gold 1/1 ladder is the scarcest certified Diaz signature run.

2022
Panini's turn

2022 Panini Chronicles UFC gave him six numbers across its brand subsets — Chronicles #5, Luminance #153, Illusions #265, Spectra #378, Noir #422 /99 and One #473 /99 — with no autograph anywhere in the checklist. It is the last significant Diaz release; he has not fought since UFC 266.

07

Rookie parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Mat Stock
1/1
High confidence
Printing Plates
1/1
High confidence
Red
/8
High confidence
Green
/88
High confidence
+2 more
…
down to /188
08

Sets

Where Diaz's key cards come from.

09

Buying & wanted

Wanted by FightCardboard
  • 012012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 Red /8 or the Mat Stock 1/1 — the scarce end of his designated rookie card
  • 022012 Finest UFC #26 Gold Refractor /88 — the rookie-year card the market calls the rookie, in the parallel Topps itself singles out
  • 032009 Topps UFC Fight Poster Review #FPR-TUF2 (Sanchez / Diaz) — his genuine first card, still overlooked because it is a poster insert
  • 042012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #BDR-DD Nate Diaz / Nick Diaz dual relic /88, and its Red /8
  • 052017 Topps UFC Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI Red /10 or Gold 1/1 — signed during the years he was out of the cage

Offer one

Available here

Nothing from the archive is currently available.

Cards come and go one at a time. Selling one?

FightCardboard verified sales

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×3

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

Nick Diaz's rookie card: 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 — Nick Diaz.

MMA Rookies, the hobby register that designates MMA rookie cards, names 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 his True Rookie Card and files 2012 Finest UFC #26 and 2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #81 beneath it as other rookies; Collectibles.com's register states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2012'. Release order agrees: Cardboard Connection dates Knockout to 6 April 2012 and Finest to 28 August 2012, so #57 is his first base card of that year by almost five months. Market usage points the other way on Finest #26 — eBay's catalogue title reads 'Nick Diaz #26 Refractor (RC)', SGC-slabbed copies are labelled ROOKIE and Topps' own Ripped article gives it a rookie designation — but SGC applies the same ROOKIE label to the 2012 Knockout Full Contact autograph, which suggests the label marks his rookie year rather than singling out one card. Neither Topps product prints a rookie logo, so the designation rests on hobby usage rather than on anything printed, which is why this is filed as probable.

High confidence

Diaz's card history is shaped by where he fought rather than how good he was. He debuted in the UFC at UFC 44 in 2003 and then spent his prime in PRIDE, EliteXC and Strikeforce, winning the inaugural Strikeforce welterweight title in January 2010 — none of which ran a card programme, and none of which the Topps UFC licence covered. The result is nine years of fighting with no card carrying his name on the front.

High confidence

His actual first card is an oddity: the 2009 Fight Poster Review insert #FPR-TUF2, which reproduces the event poster for The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale of 5 November 2005 — a fight he lost on decision to Diego Sanchez. Topps calls it his first appearance in their UFC products and eBay's catalogue even stamps it '(RC)', but it is a poster card issued three years before any Diaz base card, and it is filed under Round 2 by Topps and under plain 2009 Topps UFC by eBay.

High confidence

The base cards then all arrive at once, in three products across nine months of 2012 after his UFC return against B.J. Penn: Knockout #57 on 6 April, with Silver /188, Green /88, Red /8, a Mat Stock 1/1 and plates; Finest #26 on 28 August with the refractor ladder of White, Blue X-Fractor /188, Gold /88, Black Octa-Fractor /8 and Red 1/1; and Bloodlines #81 on 7 December with Flag /188, Black /88, Red /8 and Platinum 1/1. The rookie is genuinely disputed. The archive follows MMA Rookies, which designates Knockout #57 the True Rookie Card and files the other two beneath it, and release order agrees — #57 is his first base card by almost five months. The other side is loud: graders slab the Finest card as ROOKIE, eBay's catalogue title reads '(RC)' and Topps' own article gives it a rookie designation. Neither product prints a rookie logo or a rookie subset, and SGC applies that same ROOKIE label to the Knockout Full Contact autograph, which suggests the slab marks his rookie year rather than singling out one card.

The Knockout #57 parallel figures follow Cardboard Connection's checklist, which gives Silver /188 and lists the Gold as numbered without a figure. SportsCardsPro reads the same ladder the other way round — Silver /125, with /188 on the Gold — and that disagreement is unresolved. Green /88, Red /8 and the Mat Stock 1/1 are not in dispute.

High confidence

His first certified signature is Knockout's Full Contact Autograph #FC-ND, numbered to 99, from the 6 April 2012 product — Cardboard Connection's checklist lists it at /99, and Diaz appears in no autograph checklist in the 2009–2011 Topps UFC products. It is marked on that checklist as an exchange card redeemed by mail, so the December Bloodlines Fighter Autograph #A-ND may well have reached collectors' hands first; printed-first and delivered-first are not necessarily the same card. Bloodlines also holds the one card he and Nate genuinely share, the dual relic #BDR-DD numbered to 88 with a Red /8 and Platinum 1/1. Keep the brothers' numbers straight: in that 150-card set Nick is #81 and Nate is #6. 2013 Knockout #24 followed around the Georges St-Pierre title fight, with Red, Gold, Mat and four plate versions of the same number, and 2014 added the three-window Triple Threads Combo Relic #TTCR-DSM /18 with his Cesar Gracie teammates Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez.

High confidence

Then the UFC 183 no-contest and a long layoff shut the run down, and what came next arrived while he was not fighting at all: 2017 Topps Chrome UFC #22 — Nate is #55 in the same set — and the Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI of 10 May 2017, whose short, steep Green /35, Blue /25, Red /10 and Gold 1/1 ladder is the scarcest certified Diaz signature run. Panini's turn produced volume without signatures: 2022 Chronicles UFC gave him six numbers across its brand subsets, including Noir #422 /99, One #473 /99 and Spectra #378 with a ladder running Bronze and Silver through Red /199, Blue and Green /99, Purple /49 and Gold /10 to a Nebula 1/1, but no autograph anywhere in that checklist. He has not fought since UFC 266 in September 2021, and Chronicles remains the last significant release with his name in it.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2012 Finest UFC #26 — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 2 — Fight Poster Review #FPR-TUF2 — Nick Diaz / Diego Sanchez.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Knockout — Full Contact Autographs #FC-ND — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #81 — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines — Fighter Autographs #A-ND — Nick Diaz.

Probable

2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines — Bloodlines Dual Relics #BDR-DD — Nick Diaz / Nate Diaz.

High confidence

2013 Topps UFC Knockout #24 — Nick Diaz.

Probable

2014 Topps UFC Knockout — Triple Threads Combo Relics #TTCR-DSM — Nick Diaz / Jake Shields / Gilbert Melendez.

High confidence

2017 Topps UFC Knockout — Knockout Autographs #KA-NDI — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2017 Topps Chrome UFC #22 — Nick Diaz.

High confidence

2022 Panini Chronicles UFC — Spectra #378 — Nick Diaz.