The rookie case
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31
Round 1's whole premise was UFC debuts, so Evans's rookie is a two-man card with Brad Imes from the TUF 2 Finale — the night he won the season-two heavyweight tournament. He was the reigning light heavyweight champion when the set shipped in early 2009, and this is still the card the market means by 'Rashad Evans rookie'.
Because #31 is a two-man card, listings file it under Brad Imes, and the Silver /288 and Gold parallels of #31 are routinely advertised as separate 'rookie' cards rather than parallels of the same card.
- Earliest licensed card2008 Donruss Americana II #RK-RE High confidence
- First MMA card2008 Donruss Americana II #RK-RE High confidence
- First UFC card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 High confidence
- First certified autograph2010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-RE High confidence
- Recognized rookie card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 Probable
The evidence behind each
- 2008Earliest licensed card — TraderCracks' Americana II checklist lists the 30-card Ring Kings insert as 'RK-RE Rashad Evans /500', and photographed copies of its sibling cards confirm the coding and the print run — eBay listings show 'Ring Kings 89/500 Jay Hieron #RK-JH' and 'Gina Carano #RK-GC ... 235/500'. Jeff Allender's checklist orders the same insert 1–30 and places Evans sixth, which is where the archive's '#6' comes from.
- 2008First MMA card — TraderCracks' Ring Kings checklist is made up almost entirely of MMA fighters; Americana II carries no UFC marks.
- 2009First UFC card — SportsCardsPro's card page confirms 'Brad Imes, Rashad Evans #31' in 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 and records the rookie field as 'No'. Topps held no UFC licence before 2009.
- 2010First certified autograph — SportsCardsPro carries a card page for '2010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-RE Rashad Evans'. Neither 2009 Topps UFC product holds an Evans signature — Collectibles.com's register lists a 2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Fight Mat Relic as his earliest 2009 hit, and that card is unsigned.
- 2009Recognized rookie card — Collectibles.com's register states 'Rashad Evans debuted as a Rookie in 2009' without naming a card, and marketplace catalogues tag #31 '(RC)'. The Trading Card Database flags both of his 2009 base cards — Round 1 #31 and Round 2 #44 — which is a product-wide pattern in Topps' first two UFC sets rather than a judgement about Evans, and SportsCardsPro's rookie field reads 'No' on both.
Key Evans cards
12 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.
Card history
Donruss beat Topps to Evans by a year. His earliest licensed card is the 2008 Donruss Americana II Ring Kings insert #RK-RE, serial numbered to 500 with a Directors Cut version numbered to 100 — a 30-card combat-sports insert inside a pop-culture product with no UFC marks on it, which is why it sits outside most rookie arguments. The coding is RK- plus the fighter's initials, printed on the card, which is how photographed copies of its siblings read; Jeff Allender's checklist instead orders the insert 1–30 and lists Evans sixth, so the same card turns up in older checklists as Ring Kings 6. No checklist places him in any Ring Kings signature subset, so it is catalogued here as an unsigned insert despite the occasional seller calling it an autograph.
Round 1's whole premise was UFC debuts, so the card the market means by 'Rashad Evans rookie' is a two-man card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31, pairing him with Brad Imes from the TUF 2 Finale, the night he won the season-two heavyweight tournament. He was the reigning light heavyweight champion when the set shipped. Sources disagree about the designation — the Trading Card Database RC-flags the 2009 Topps base cards and eBay and COMC catalogue #31 as (RC), while SportsCardsPro's data field says it is not a rookie card — and neither 2009 Topps product printed an RC logo, so the call is collector convention. The same release gave him his first solo card, the 1:8 Victorious Debuts insert #VD13 with Gold /88 and Red 1/1, and his first memorabilia card, the Debut Mat relic #DM-EI cut from that same fight's mat.
Round 2 #44, later the same year, is his first solo base card in a UFC-licensed set, from the portrait half of the checklist whose #101 holds the Jon Jones rookie — and it is the Evans card most often mislabelled as his own rookie. The real oddity of his collection is the signatures: Evans held the light heavyweight title through 2009 and appears on neither 2009 autograph checklist, so anyone building a signed run of champions waits for the 2010 flagship and #FA-RE, with Onyx /88, Ruby /8 and Diamond 1/1 above the plain version. That 2010 release also carries base #61 and an Ultimate Gear relic, joined by the December high-end Knockout #21 — printed far shorter than the flagship's base cards — and the Main Event cage relic #CR-RE, whose tracked version is a Bronze numbered to 88.
2011 Finest UFC is the peak and the end of the first run. Base #91 carries the full refractor ladder — X-Fractor /388, Gold Refractor /88, Octa-Fractor /8, Red Refractor 1/1 — and is the only chrome-stock Evans base card from his title era. Above it sits the card of the feud: Finest Feuds Dual Autographs #FF-EJ, Evans and Jon Jones signing one card numbered to 25, issued while their Jackson's MMA fallout was still being argued about and months before UFC 145 settled it. It is the most sought-after Evans autograph and the only dual he shares with Jones.
After Finest 2011 his cards go quiet for more than a decade. The return comes with Topps holding the UFC licence again: 2025 Topps Finest UFC Autographs #FA-RE, recorded in a Blue Checkerboard Refractor numbered to 75, which puts a modern, scarce Evans signature back in circulation for the first time since his flagship days. Beware the code — the same FA-RE designation sits on his 2010 Topps autograph, so the year decides which card a listing means.
Autographs
3 certified autographs in the archive.
Numbered & parallels
Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.
Card eras
Donruss put him in the 30-card Ring Kings insert in Americana II at #RK-RE, serial numbered to 500 with a Directors Cut version numbered to 100. It is a pop-culture product with no UFC marks, which is why it sits outside most rookie arguments.
Round 1 #31 shows his UFC debut against Brad Imes, with Victorious Debuts #VD13 and the Debut Mat relic #DM-EI drawn from the same fight. Round 2 #44 later in the year gave him his first solo UFC card, but neither product carries an Evans autograph.
The 2010 flagship (Series 4) gave him base #61 and autograph #FA-RE with Onyx /88, Ruby /8 and Diamond 1/1 parallels, plus an Ultimate Gear relic #UG-RE. Knockout #21 and the Main Event Cage Relic #CR-RE round out the year.
Finest UFC #91 carries the full refractor ladder to a Red Refractor 1/1, and Finest Feuds Dual Autographs #FF-EJ pairs him with Jon Jones at /25 — the signature card of the rivalry that ended at UFC 145.
With Topps holding the licence again, Evans returns as an autograph subject: 2025 Topps Finest UFC #FA-RE, seen in a Blue Checkerboard Refractor numbered to 75.
Rookie parallels
Sets
Where Evans's key cards come from.
- 20082008 Donruss Americana II1 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 12 key cards
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 1 Victorious Debuts1 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 21 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC (Series 4)1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Autographs1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Knockout1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Main Event1 key card
- 20112011 Finest UFC2 key cards
- 20252025 Topps Finest UFC Autographs1 key card
Buying & wanted
- 012008 Donruss Americana II Ring Kings #RK-RE /500 — his earliest licensed card, or the Directors Cut /100 above it
- 022009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 Evans / Imes, Silver parallel /288
- 032009 Topps UFC Round 1 Debut Mat Relics #DM-EI, Gold parallel /88
- 042010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-RE in Ruby /8 or Diamond 1/1
- 052011 Finest UFC Finest Feuds Dual Autographs #FF-EJ Jones / Evans /25
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 Verified×4High confidence×7Probable×7
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.
Rashad Evans's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 — Rashad Evans / Brad Imes.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 is his first card in a UFC-licensed product and the one the market treats as the rookie: eBay listings and the COMC catalogue title it 'Rashad Evans vs Brad Imes #31' with an RC / Rookie tag, and Jeff Allender's Round 1 checklist confirms the number and the subject pairing. Like the rest of the 2009 Topps UFC run it is a hobby convention rather than a league-designated RC — SportsCardsPro's own data field says 'not a rookie card' for #31, #44 and #61 alike, and the 2008 Donruss Ring Kings card is a year earlier.
- NSListsUFC Round 1 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- SportsCardsProBrad Imes, Rashad Evans #31 — 2009 Topps UFC Round 1, accessed September 22, 2026
- COMC (search result listing)2009 Topps UFC Round 1 - [Base] #31 - Rashad Evans vs Brad Imes, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Rashad Evans vs Brad Imes Rookie #31, accessed September 22, 2026
Donruss beat Topps to Evans by a year. His earliest licensed card is the 2008 Donruss Americana II Ring Kings insert #RK-RE, serial numbered to 500 with a Directors Cut version numbered to 100 — a 30-card combat-sports insert inside a pop-culture product with no UFC marks on it, which is why it sits outside most rookie arguments. The coding is RK- plus the fighter's initials, printed on the card, which is how photographed copies of its siblings read; Jeff Allender's checklist instead orders the insert 1–30 and lists Evans sixth, so the same card turns up in older checklists as Ring Kings 6. No checklist places him in any Ring Kings signature subset, so it is catalogued here as an unsigned insert despite the occasional seller calling it an autograph.
- NS ListsAmericana II (Donruss) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- eBay (search result listing title)2008 Donruss Americana Rashad 'Sugar' Evans — Ring Kings /500, accessed September 22, 2026
Round 1's whole premise was UFC debuts, so the card the market means by 'Rashad Evans rookie' is a two-man card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31, pairing him with Brad Imes from the TUF 2 Finale, the night he won the season-two heavyweight tournament. He was the reigning light heavyweight champion when the set shipped. Sources disagree about the designation — the Trading Card Database RC-flags the 2009 Topps base cards and eBay and COMC catalogue #31 as (RC), while SportsCardsPro's data field says it is not a rookie card — and neither 2009 Topps product printed an RC logo, so the call is collector convention. The same release gave him his first solo card, the 1:8 Victorious Debuts insert #VD13 with Gold /88 and Red 1/1, and his first memorabilia card, the Debut Mat relic #DM-EI cut from that same fight's mat.
Round 2 #44, later the same year, is his first solo base card in a UFC-licensed set, from the portrait half of the checklist whose #101 holds the Jon Jones rookie — and it is the Evans card most often mislabelled as his own rookie. The real oddity of his collection is the signatures: Evans held the light heavyweight title through 2009 and appears on neither 2009 autograph checklist, so anyone building a signed run of champions waits for the 2010 flagship and #FA-RE, with Onyx /88, Ruby /8 and Diamond 1/1 above the plain version. That 2010 release also carries base #61 and an Ultimate Gear relic, joined by the December high-end Knockout #21 — printed far shorter than the flagship's base cards — and the Main Event cage relic #CR-RE, whose tracked version is a Bronze numbered to 88.
2011 Finest UFC is the peak and the end of the first run. Base #91 carries the full refractor ladder — X-Fractor /388, Gold Refractor /88, Octa-Fractor /8, Red Refractor 1/1 — and is the only chrome-stock Evans base card from his title era. Above it sits the card of the feud: Finest Feuds Dual Autographs #FF-EJ, Evans and Jon Jones signing one card numbered to 25, issued while their Jackson's MMA fallout was still being argued about and months before UFC 145 settled it. It is the most sought-after Evans autograph and the only dual he shares with Jones.
After Finest 2011 his cards go quiet for more than a decade. The return comes with Topps holding the UFC licence again: 2025 Topps Finest UFC Autographs #FA-RE, recorded in a Blue Checkerboard Refractor numbered to 75, which puts a modern, scarce Evans signature back in circulation for the first time since his flagship days. Beware the code — the same FA-RE designation sits on his 2010 Topps autograph, so the year decides which card a listing means.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #31 — Rashad Evans / Brad Imes.
2008 Donruss Americana II Ring Kings #RK-RE — Rashad Evans.
- NS ListsAmericana II (Donruss) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- eBay (search result listing title)2008 Donruss Americana Rashad 'Sugar' Evans — Ring Kings /500, accessed September 22, 2026
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 Victorious Debuts #VD13 — Rashad Evans.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #DM-EI — Rashad Evans / Brad Imes.
- NSListsUFC Round 1 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- Froggers House of Cards (search result listing title)2009 Rashad Evans vs Brad Imes UFC Topps Round 1 Mat Relic RC #DM-EI, accessed September 22, 2026
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 #44 — Rashad Evans.
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #61 — Rashad Evans.
2010 Topps UFC Autographs #FA-RE — Rashad Evans.
2010 Topps UFC Knockout #21 — Rashad Evans.
- SportsCardsProRashad Evans #21 — 2010 Topps UFC Knockout, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay (search result listing title)2010 Topps UFC Knockout Gold #/288 Rashad Evans #21, accessed September 22, 2026
2010 Topps UFC Main Event #CR-RE — Rashad Evans.
- SportsCardsProRashad Evans [Bronze] #CR-RE — 2010 Topps UFC Main Event Cage Relics, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay (search result listing title)2010 Topps UFC Main Event Cage Relics Rashad Evans #CR-RE 39/88, accessed September 22, 2026
2011 Finest UFC #FF-EJ — Jon Jones / Rashad Evans.
- Trading Card Database2011 Finest UFC - Finest Feuds Dual Autographs #FF-EJ Rashad Evans / Jon Jones, accessed September 21, 2026
- 2011 Finest UFC, accessed September 21, 2026
- Cardboard Connection10 Count: Top Jon 'Bones' Jones Cards, accessed September 20, 2026 Useful survey of key Jones cards, but it credits the #101 rookie to '2009 Topps UFC' without the Round, and some serial numbering here is single-sourced. Used as a lead, not as proof.
- Topps RippedJon Jones' Cards To Collect, accessed September 21, 2026
- eBay2011 Topps UFC Finest - Jon Jones Rashad Evans /25 - Finest Feuds Dual Autographs, accessed September 21, 2026
2025 Topps Finest UFC Autographs #FA-RE — Rashad Evans.