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Working pick#26
Rookie research

Nick Diaz
Rookie Card Case

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

  • Working pick2012 Finest UFC #26
  • SubjectNick Diaz
  • Year2012
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceProbable
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
High confidence×1Probable×1Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the working pick

2012 Finest UFC #26 is the card the market designates: eBay's catalogue title reads 'Nick Diaz #26 Refractor (RC)', SGC-slabbed X-Fractor and Gold Refractor copies on Fanatics Collect are labelled ROOKIE, Topps' own Ripped article gives it a 'Rookie card designation (RC)', and collectibles.com states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2012'. It is chosen over the two cards that physically came first because neither is treated as a rookie by anyone: the 2009 Fight Poster Review insert is a poster card, and 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 (21 March 2012) carries no rookie designation on any source consulted. The pick is filed as probable rather than verified because SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on #26, Cardboard Connection's Finest product page describes no rookie logo or rookie subset in the product at all, and TCDB, COMC and PSA — the sites that normally settle an RC-logo question — are not reachable while beckett.com is offline.

The card the market treats as the Nick Diaz rookie: chrome stock, released 28 August 2012, and the one slabbed copies carry ROOKIE on the label. It is not his first card — the Fight Poster Review insert is three years older and Knockout #57 is five months older — but the Finest refractor ladder (X-Fractor /188, Gold /88, Black Octa-Fractor /8, Red 1/1) is what collectors chase, and Topps' own Ripped article singles out the Gold Refractor /88.

The dispute

eBay's catalogue, SGC slab labels and Topps' own article call 2012 Finest UFC #26 a rookie; SportsCardsPro marks it 'No'. Separately, his first base card is in fact 2012 Topps UFC Knockout (March 2012), not Finest (August 2012), so the fighter's earliest base card and his market rookie are different cards.

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 #26 in a 100-card chrome-stock set
  • White Refractor is unnumbered; Blue X-Fractor /188, Gold Refractor /88, Black Octa-Fractor /8, Red Refractor 1/1, four printing plates 1/1
  • The same product carries his Fight Mat Jumbo Relic #FFJM-ND and the autographed version #FMAR-ND
  • Nate Diaz's Finest cards are from the 2011 product (#37), not this one

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Numbered refractors sold as 'the rookie'.The X-Fractor /188 and Gold Refractor /88 are parallels of #26; the base card is unnumbered.

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
White Refractor
—
High confidence
Blue X-Fractor
/188
High confidence
Gold Refractor
/88
High confidence
Black Octa-Fractor
/8
High confidence
Red Refractor
/1
High confidence

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×1Uncertain×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 Finest UFC #26 — Nick Diaz.

2012 Finest UFC #26 is the card the market designates: eBay's catalogue title reads 'Nick Diaz #26 Refractor (RC)', SGC-slabbed X-Fractor and Gold Refractor copies on Fanatics Collect are labelled ROOKIE, Topps' own Ripped article gives it a 'Rookie card designation (RC)', and collectibles.com states he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2012'. It is chosen over the two cards that physically came first because neither is treated as a rookie by anyone: the 2009 Fight Poster Review insert is a poster card, and 2012 Topps UFC Knockout #57 (21 March 2012) carries no rookie designation on any source consulted. The pick is filed as probable rather than verified because SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on #26, Cardboard Connection's Finest product page describes no rookie logo or rookie subset in the product at all, and TCDB, COMC and PSA — the sites that normally settle an RC-logo question — are not reachable while beckett.com is offline.

High confidence

2012 Finest UFC #26 — Nick Diaz.

Uncertain

SportsCardsPro's 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' for this card, while eBay's catalogue, SGC slab labels and Topps' own article call it a rookie. Cardboard Connection's product page describes no rookie-card logo or rookie subset in 2012 Topps UFC Finest at all.

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