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Working pick
2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 Nick Diaz — front
#57
Rookie research

Nick Diaz
Rookie Card Case

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

  • Working pick2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57
  • SubjectNick Diaz
  • Year2012
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
High confidence×1Probable×1View sources & research

Why this is the working pick

MMA Rookies, the hobby database that designates UFC rookie cards, names 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 his True Rookie Card and lists 2012 Finest UFC #26 and 2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines #81 as secondary rookies. Release order agrees: Cardboard Connection dates Knockout to 6 April 2012 and Finest to 28 August 2012, so #57 is his first base card by almost five months. Neither Topps product prints a rookie logo — Cardboard Connection's checklists for both carry no RC flags — so the designation rests on hobby usage rather than on anything printed, which is why this is filed as probable rather than higher. Market usage does point the other way on Finest #26, but SGC applies the same ROOKIE slab label to the 2012 Knockout Full Contact autograph, which suggests the label marks his rookie year rather than singling out one card.

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.

The dispute

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.

Identifying it

  • Base #57 in a 100-card set
  • Parallels: Silver /188, Green /88, Red /8, Mat Stock 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1, over a numbered Gold
  • Distinct from his 2013 Topps UFC Knockout card, which is #24, and his 2017 Topps UFC Knockout card, #58

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

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.

Grading & population

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

Sources & research High confidence×1Probable×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

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

2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 — Nick Diaz.

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