Why this is the earliest card
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'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.
Identifying it
- #213, in the block at the end of the 220-card base set where the Strikeforce additions sit
- Cardboard Connection's product page names Lawler among the Strikeforce fighters added alongside Cris Cyborg Santos, Miesha Tate and Gilbert Melendez
- One parallel per pack in this product, so a raw #213 with no foil treatment is the plain base card
Parallels
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×2
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.
2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213 — Robbie Lawler.
Go deeper
- The card record2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth #213
- Robbie Lawler archiveKey cards and eras
- 2011 Topps UFC Moment of TruthSet record