The earliest card
2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213
Lawler's first card in a licensed fight-promotion product, and it only exists because of a checklist quirk: Moment of Truth, released 30 November 2011, was the first Topps UFC set to include Strikeforce fighters after Zuffa bought the promotion. Lawler had fought in the UFC in 2002-04 and had come and gone through PRIDE, ICON, EliteXC and Strikeforce without ever getting a Topps card, so a fighter nine years into his career turns up at #213 in a set full of Strikeforce debutants. SportsCardsPro's database returns only five Lawler items for 2011 — this card and its four parallels — which is the whole of his pre-2012 mainstream cardboard.
Collectibles.com's register states 'Robbie Lawler debuted as a Rookie in 2010', but no 2010 Lawler card could be found: SportsCardsPro returns zero results for 'Robbie Lawler 2010', zero for 'Robbie Lawler Leaf' and zero for 2008 or 2009, and its earliest Lawler entries are the five 2011 Moment of Truth items. The 2010 claim is treated as unverified. Separately, nothing in the hobby designates a Lawler rookie card at all, so the 'earliest' framing is used rather than a rookie pick.
Key Lawler cards
12 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.
Card history
Lawler is the clearest case in MMA of a career outrunning its cardboard. He fought in the UFC from 2002 and went through PRIDE, ICON, EliteXC and Strikeforce without a card of any kind; the earliest one on record is 2009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts #CFSR-RL, a Cage Fighter Signatures Renditions autograph issued while he was EliteXC middleweight champion. It is an autograph with no base card behind it, in a multi-sport product with no fight-promotion licence, and he is absent from the 15-card Cage Fighter Signatures checklist proper — he appears only in the parallel Renditions run, which makes the card easy to miss entirely. Its print run and whether the signature is on-card are not stated anywhere.
There is no Lawler rookie card. Nothing carries an RC designation and SportsCardsPro's data field on his earliest base card reads 'Is Rookie Card: No', so the useful landmark is simply his first pack-issued base card in a licensed set: 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213, released 30 November 2011. It exists because of a checklist quirk — Moment of Truth was the first Topps UFC product to carry Strikeforce fighters after Zuffa bought the promotion, so a man nine years into his career turns up among the debutants, with Gold, Onyx /188, Ruby /8, Diamond 1/1 and printing plates behind him. His entire pre-2012 mainstream cardboard is that card and its four parallels. Collectibles.com's register says he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2010', but no 2010 Lawler card is catalogued anywhere.
His Topps signature history starts a year later: he was not on the 2011 Moment of Truth Certified Signatures checklist, so 2012 Finest UFC #A-RL is his first autograph in a UFC-licensed product, signed while he was still a Strikeforce fighter, with an unnumbered base and a Gold Refractor /25 and Octafractor /8 above it. Then comes a genuine hole — he returned to the UFC in February 2013 and won three straight, and there is not a single 2013 Lawler card. The gap closes on 17 December 2014, eleven days after he beat Johny Hendricks for the welterweight title, with Topps UFC Bloodlines #83 (Flag, Black /25, Ruby Red /8, Platinum 1/1) and his first memorabilia card, the Jumbo Fight Mat relic #JFMR-RL, a full-panel canvas swatch with Ruby Red /8 and Platinum 1/1 tiers.
2015 Topps UFC Champions, released 28 October 2015, is where he finally gets a full spread rather than a single checklist line: base #23 as reigning champion with a Silver through Platinum 1/1 ladder, a Championship Clashes card opposite Hendricks, and the red-ink Scarlet Signatures #SSI-RL numbered to 50 — the only serially numbered autograph from his title reign that both a checklist and a card catalogue agree on. Two years later 2017 Topps Chrome UFC #16 put him on chromium in a 100-card base set, with Green /99, Blue Wave /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1 off the one card.
Panini's licence opened with Prizm UFC on 28 April 2021, and Lawler's #195 sits in the horizontal half of the 200-card base set behind a colour ladder deeper than anything Topps gave him — Red /275 down through Neon Green /75, Mojo /25, Gold /10, Octagon /8 and a Black 1/1 — alongside Knockout Artists #14 and his first Panini autograph, Sensational Signatures #SS-RLW. 2022 Donruss UFC #18 followed with its Holo Laser run down to a Black Laser 1/1. Since his retirement in July 2023 and Hall of Fame induction the same year, Topps has moved him onto the legends checklists rather than the active-fighter sets: 2024 Topps Chrome UFC Octagon Legends Autographs #OLA-RLA, with the Refractor numbered to 150.
Autographs
5 certified autographs in the archive.
Card eras
While EliteXC middleweight champion, Lawler turned up in Upper Deck Prominent Cuts as #CFSR-RL, a Cage Fighter Signatures Renditions autograph. It is the earliest Lawler card any reachable source records — and he had no base card of any kind at the time.
Moment of Truth #213 is his first licensed base card, nine years after his UFC debut. Cardboard Connection names him among the Strikeforce fighters the set added; SportsCardsPro's entire 2011 Lawler database is that card plus its four parallels.
Finest UFC #A-RL gave him his first autograph in a UFC-licensed product, with a Gold /25 and an Octafractor /8 over it. He was not on the 2011 Moment of Truth Certified Signatures checklist, so Finest is where his Topps signature history begins.
Lawler returned to the UFC in February 2013 and won three straight, but SportsCardsPro returns zero Lawler cards dated 2013. Topps skipped the comeback entirely.
Bloodlines #83 and his first relic (JFMR-RL) landed days after the UFC 181 title win; 2015 Topps UFC Champions then gave him base #23, a Championship Clashes card opposite Hendricks and the red-ink Scarlet Signatures #SSI-RL /50.
Topps Chrome UFC #16 put him on chromium with a full refractor ladder — Blue Wave /75 through Red /5 and a Superfractor 1/1 — plus a fighter autograph.
Panini's licence brought Prizm #195, Knockout Artists #14, Sensational Signatures #SS-RLW and Donruss #18. After his 2023 retirement and Hall of Fame induction, Topps moved him to legend-only autograph subsets such as 2024 Chrome Octagon Legends #OLA-RLA /150.
Parallels of this card
Sets
Where Lawler's key cards come from.
- 20092009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts1 key card
- 20112011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth1 key card
- 20122012 Finest UFC1 key card
- 20142014 Topps UFC Bloodlines1 key card
- 20142014 Topps UFC Bloodlines Jumbo Fight Mat Relics1 key card
- 20152015 Topps UFC Champions1 key card
- 20152015 Topps UFC Champions Scarlet Signatures1 key card
- 20172017 Topps Chrome UFC1 key card
- 20212021 Panini Prizm UFC1 key card
- 20212021 Panini Prizm UFC Sensational Signatures1 key card
- 20222022 Donruss UFC1 key card
- 20242024 Topps Chrome UFC — Octagon Legends Autographs1 key card
Buying & wanted
- 012011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213 Ruby /8 or Diamond 1/1 — the scarce end of his first licensed card
- 022012 Finest UFC #A-RL Octafractor /8 — his first Topps autograph at its lowest print run
- 032015 Topps UFC Champions Scarlet Signatures #SSI-RL /50 — red-ink signature from the title reign
- 042009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Cage Fighter Signatures Renditions #CFSR-RL — the earliest Lawler card anyone can document
Nothing from this archive in the vault right now. Selling one?
Sources & research High confidence×14Probable×4
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.
Robbie Lawler's earliest card: 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213 — Robbie Lawler.
Lawler has no rookie card. No reachable source flags any Lawler card RC, and SportsCardsPro's data field for #213 reads 'Is Rookie Card: No'. He fought his first UFC bout in May 2002, seven years before Topps held the UFC licence, and by the time cards of him existed he was a veteran. 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213 is recorded as the 'earliest' significant card because it is his first pack-issued base card in a licensed fight-promotion product, released 30 November 2011 in the set Cardboard Connection identifies as the first Topps UFC release to include Strikeforce fighters — Lawler is named in that group.
Lawler is the clearest case in MMA of a career outrunning its cardboard. He fought in the UFC from 2002 and went through PRIDE, ICON, EliteXC and Strikeforce without a card of any kind; the earliest one on record is 2009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts #CFSR-RL, a Cage Fighter Signatures Renditions autograph issued while he was EliteXC middleweight champion. It is an autograph with no base card behind it, in a multi-sport product with no fight-promotion licence, and he is absent from the 15-card Cage Fighter Signatures checklist proper — he appears only in the parallel Renditions run, which makes the card easy to miss entirely. Its print run and whether the signature is on-card are not stated anywhere.
There is no Lawler rookie card. Nothing carries an RC designation and SportsCardsPro's data field on his earliest base card reads 'Is Rookie Card: No', so the useful landmark is simply his first pack-issued base card in a licensed set: 2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213, released 30 November 2011. It exists because of a checklist quirk — Moment of Truth was the first Topps UFC product to carry Strikeforce fighters after Zuffa bought the promotion, so a man nine years into his career turns up among the debutants, with Gold, Onyx /188, Ruby /8, Diamond 1/1 and printing plates behind him. His entire pre-2012 mainstream cardboard is that card and its four parallels. Collectibles.com's register says he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2010', but no 2010 Lawler card is catalogued anywhere.
His Topps signature history starts a year later: he was not on the 2011 Moment of Truth Certified Signatures checklist, so 2012 Finest UFC #A-RL is his first autograph in a UFC-licensed product, signed while he was still a Strikeforce fighter, with an unnumbered base and a Gold Refractor /25 and Octafractor /8 above it. Then comes a genuine hole — he returned to the UFC in February 2013 and won three straight, and there is not a single 2013 Lawler card. The gap closes on 17 December 2014, eleven days after he beat Johny Hendricks for the welterweight title, with Topps UFC Bloodlines #83 (Flag, Black /25, Ruby Red /8, Platinum 1/1) and his first memorabilia card, the Jumbo Fight Mat relic #JFMR-RL, a full-panel canvas swatch with Ruby Red /8 and Platinum 1/1 tiers.
2015 Topps UFC Champions, released 28 October 2015, is where he finally gets a full spread rather than a single checklist line: base #23 as reigning champion with a Silver through Platinum 1/1 ladder, a Championship Clashes card opposite Hendricks, and the red-ink Scarlet Signatures #SSI-RL numbered to 50 — the only serially numbered autograph from his title reign that both a checklist and a card catalogue agree on. Two years later 2017 Topps Chrome UFC #16 put him on chromium in a 100-card base set, with Green /99, Blue Wave /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1 off the one card.
Panini's licence opened with Prizm UFC on 28 April 2021, and Lawler's #195 sits in the horizontal half of the 200-card base set behind a colour ladder deeper than anything Topps gave him — Red /275 down through Neon Green /75, Mojo /25, Gold /10, Octagon /8 and a Black 1/1 — alongside Knockout Artists #14 and his first Panini autograph, Sensational Signatures #SS-RLW. 2022 Donruss UFC #18 followed with its Holo Laser run down to a Black Laser 1/1. Since his retirement in July 2023 and Hall of Fame induction the same year, Topps has moved him onto the legends checklists rather than the active-fighter sets: 2024 Topps Chrome UFC Octagon Legends Autographs #OLA-RLA, with the Refractor numbered to 150.
2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213 — Robbie Lawler.
2009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts #CFSR-RL — Robbie Lawler.
2012 Finest UFC #A-RL — Robbie Lawler.
2014 Topps UFC Bloodlines #83 — Robbie Lawler.
2014 Topps UFC Bloodlines Jumbo Fight Mat Relics #JFMR-RL — Robbie Lawler.
2015 Topps UFC Champions #23 — Robbie Lawler.
2015 Topps UFC Champions Scarlet Signatures #SSI-RL — Robbie Lawler.
2017 Topps Chrome UFC #16 — Robbie Lawler.
- Cardboard Connection2017 Topps UFC Chrome Checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- SportsCardsProSearch: Robbie Lawler 2017 Chrome — Robbie Lawler [Blue Wave] #16 /75, accessed September 22, 2026
- Collectibles.comRobbie Lawler card register (2017 Topps UFC Chrome SuperFractor #16), accessed September 22, 2026
2021 Panini Prizm UFC #195 — Robbie Lawler.
2021 Panini Prizm UFC Sensational Signatures #SS-RLW — Robbie Lawler.
- SportsCardsProSearch: Robbie Lawler Sensational — Robbie Lawler [Green] #SS-RLW, 2021 Panini Prizm UFC Sensational Signatures, accessed September 22, 2026
- 2021 Panini Prizm UFC, accessed September 21, 2026
- Collectibles.comRobbie Lawler card register (2017 Topps UFC Chrome SuperFractor #16), accessed September 22, 2026
2022 Donruss UFC #18 — Robbie Lawler.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC — Octagon Legends Autographs #OLA-RLA — Robbie Lawler.