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Robert Whittaker

Whittaker is the rare UFC champion whose cardboard starts late and thin: he won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes in December 2012 and Topps ignored him for three straight years, so his first card is 2015 Topps UFC Champions #64 and there is nothing before it. He then signed nothing at all through Topps' 2015-2018 licence, which means his first certified autograph is a 2021 Panini Prizm Octagon Signatures card issued four years after he won the middleweight title. The consequence is a collection with almost no early depth and one overwhelming chase card - the 2021 Prizm Color Blast #5.

2015Rookie year
#64Rookie card
10Key cards
  • UFC debutDecember 15, 2012 · UFC on FX 6 (The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Finale)
  • DivisionsWelterweight · Middleweight
  • FromOtahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand
Rookie card#64
01

The rookie

#64
Rookie card

2015 Topps UFC Champions #64

Whittaker's first card of any kind, and it came nearly three years after his UFC debut: he won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes in December 2012 but Topps skipped him through the whole 2013-2014 Bloodlines/Knockout/Champions run. 2015 Topps UFC Champions was released 28 October 2015, by which time he had moved to middleweight and put together the win streak that made him champion. It is the only card most price guides treat as his rookie, which makes it the single card a Whittaker collection has to start with.

Commonly misidentified

SportsCardsPro's structured 'Rookie Card' field reads 'No' for #64, which contradicts MMA Rookies and Collectibles.com. That field is empty by default across most of its UFC catalogue and should not be read as a competing opinion. A printed RC logo on the card front could not be verified from the 240px product scan available, and TCDB - the usual RC-flag database - could not be consulted, so the rookie call rests on the two hobby sources rather than on the card itself.

High confidence×1View sources & research
Rookie card guide Card record
02

Key Whittaker cards

10 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.

2017 Topps UFC Knockout #62
2017 Topps Chrome UFC #41
2017 Topps Museum Collection UFC #26
2018 Topps Chrome UFC #34
2021 Panini Prizm UFC #11
2021 Panini Prizm UFC — Color Blast #5
03

Card history

Whittaker won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes in December 2012 and Topps ignored him for nearly three years. He is absent from 2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines, 2013 Topps UFC Knockout and the 2014 Champions run, and from 2016 Knockout and Museum Collection as well, so his first card of any kind is 2015 Topps UFC Champions #64, released 28 October 2015, by which time he had moved to middleweight and started the streak that made him champion. There is no gap here between earliest card and rookie card — MMA Rookies names #64 his True Rookie Card and lists no others, and Collectibles.com's register says he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2015'. The parallel ladder is the product-wide one, Silver, Black /188, Blue /88, Gold /25, Red /8 and Platinum 1/1.

Then another blank year, before three cards arrive inside one licence season. Topps UFC Knockout #62, out 10 May 2017, closes an eighteen-month gap and is the last Whittaker card printed before he was a champion — a low-print premium product, so its Green /215, Blue /99, Red /25 and Gold 1/1 tiers are scarcer than the equivalents in his rookie set. Topps UFC Chrome #41 followed on 20 September 2017, ten weeks after he took the interim belt off Yoel Romero at UFC 213, and gave him his first refractor rainbow, Green /99 down through Orange /25, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1. Museum Collection #26 — labelled 2017 but dated 28 February 2018, which is why some listings file it as a 2018 card — is his first high-end issue and the shortest-printed base run of his Topps era, with every tier above the base serial-numbered from Copper /109 to a one-of-one Emerald.

2018 Topps UFC Chrome #34, released 19 September 2018 while he held the undisputed middleweight title, repeats the 2017 rainbow and closes the Topps chapter. The striking thing about that whole run is what is missing from it: Whittaker is not in the 37-fighter 2017 Chrome Autographs checklist, nor in the UFC Fire, Museum, Tier 1 or Top of the Class autograph subsets. He signed nothing at all across Topps' 2015-2018 licence, so there is no rookie-year autograph and no early signed card to hunt.

Panini's first UFC year gave him more cards than his entire Topps run. The 28 April 2021 Prizm UFC release has him twice in the base set — vertical #11 and horizontal #105, since the 200-card run is 100 of each — with fifteen parallel tiers behind #11 from Silver to a Black 1/1, plus Instant Impact, Fearless and Fireworks inserts. Two cards from that year dominate everything else: Color Blast #5, an unnumbered deep case hit that is the chase card of his whole catalogue and the reason his market lives in 2021 Prizm rather than his rookie set, and Octagon Signatures #24, his first certified autograph — at age 30, more than eight years after his UFC debut and four years after he won the title. A National Treasures card numbered to 99 sits in Chronicles UFC at #366, in that brand's continuous numbering rather than in Prizm, where the base set stops at 200.

The licence returned to Topps on 20 March 2024 and he came back with base #15, an Allen & Ginter card, a Pathblazers insert, and — nine years after his Topps rookie and three years after Panini finally got him to sign — his first Topps autograph, Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH, refractor-tiered from /150 through Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1. It is the modern signed Whittaker with the deepest rainbow to chase, and it means his signed cardboard, unusually for a former champion, is entirely a thing of the last five years.

Sources for every paragraph

04

Autographs

2 certified autographs in the archive.

2021Panini Prizm UFC Octagon Signatures #24 Auto
2024Topps Chrome UFC Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH Auto
05

Numbered & parallels

Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.

2021Panini Chronicles UFC #366 /99
06

Card eras

2015
First card, three years late

2015 Topps UFC Champions #64, released 28 October 2015, is his first card of any kind and the only one price guides treat as a rookie. Topps had passed on him through 2013 Bloodlines, 2013 Knockout and the 2014 Champions run despite the TUF: The Smashes win.

2017
Interim champion, Topps catches up

After a blank 2016 he appeared three times in one licence year: Knockout #62 in May, Chrome #41 in September - his first refractor rainbow, ten weeks after taking the interim belt off Yoel Romero at UFC 213 - and Museum Collection #26, where every parallel is serial-numbered from Copper /109 to a 1/1 Emerald.

2018
Undisputed champion on chrome

2018 Topps UFC Chrome #34 is the reigning-champion card, with the same Green /99 through SuperFractor 1/1 ladder as the 2017 issue. He still had not signed a single Topps card.

2021
Panini, and finally an autograph

Panini's first UFC year gave him more cards than his whole Topps run: Prizm base #11 and #105, Instant Impact #8, Fearless #10, Fireworks #14, the Color Blast #5 chase card, a National Treasures /99 at Chronicles #366, and Octagon Signatures #24 - his first certified autograph, at age 30.

2024
Topps returns, first Topps signature

The licence went back to Topps on 20 March 2024 and he got base #15, an Allen & Ginter card at #AAG-10, Pathblazers #PTH-11, and Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH - his first Topps autograph, refractor-tiered from /150 down to a SuperFractor.

07

Rookie parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Silver
—
Probable
Black
/188
Probable
Blue
/88
Probable
Gold
/25
Probable
Red
/8
Probable
08

Sets

Where Whittaker's key cards come from.

09

Buying & wanted

Wanted by FightCardboard
  • 012021 Panini Prizm UFC #5 - the chase card of his catalogue and the only Whittaker card with real scarcity outside the numbered tiers
  • 022021 Panini Prizm UFC Octagon Signatures #24 - his first certified autograph of any kind
  • 032015 Topps UFC Champions #64 in high grade, plus its Gold /25 and Red /8 parallels - the only rookie-year card he has
  • 042024 Topps Chrome UFC Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH Red Refractor /5 or SuperFractor 1/1 - the top of his first Topps-signed rainbow

Offer one

Available here

Nothing from this archive in the vault right now. Selling one?

Sources & research Verified×2High confidence×10Probable×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.

High confidence

Robert Whittaker's rookie card: 2015 Topps UFC Champions #64 — Robert Whittaker.

MMA Rookies' vault entry names '2015 Topps UFC Champions #64 Robert Whittaker' as his True Rookie Card and lists no other rookies. Collectibles.com's register states Whittaker 'debuted as a Rookie in 2015'. Cardboard Connection's 2015 Topps UFC Champions checklist independently confirms he is card #64 in the 200-card base set, released 28 October 2015. Spot checks of the earlier licensed products found nothing: no Whittaker in 2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines, 2013 Topps UFC Knockout, 2014 Topps UFC Champions, 2016 Topps UFC Knockout or 2016 Topps UFC Museum Collection. There is therefore no gap between 'earliest card' and 'rookie card' for him - #64 is both.

High confidence

Whittaker won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes in December 2012 and Topps ignored him for nearly three years. He is absent from 2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines, 2013 Topps UFC Knockout and the 2014 Champions run, and from 2016 Knockout and Museum Collection as well, so his first card of any kind is 2015 Topps UFC Champions #64, released 28 October 2015, by which time he had moved to middleweight and started the streak that made him champion. There is no gap here between earliest card and rookie card — MMA Rookies names #64 his True Rookie Card and lists no others, and Collectibles.com's register says he 'debuted as a Rookie in 2015'. The parallel ladder is the product-wide one, Silver, Black /188, Blue /88, Gold /25, Red /8 and Platinum 1/1.

High confidence

Then another blank year, before three cards arrive inside one licence season. Topps UFC Knockout #62, out 10 May 2017, closes an eighteen-month gap and is the last Whittaker card printed before he was a champion — a low-print premium product, so its Green /215, Blue /99, Red /25 and Gold 1/1 tiers are scarcer than the equivalents in his rookie set. Topps UFC Chrome #41 followed on 20 September 2017, ten weeks after he took the interim belt off Yoel Romero at UFC 213, and gave him his first refractor rainbow, Green /99 down through Orange /25, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1. Museum Collection #26 — labelled 2017 but dated 28 February 2018, which is why some listings file it as a 2018 card — is his first high-end issue and the shortest-printed base run of his Topps era, with every tier above the base serial-numbered from Copper /109 to a one-of-one Emerald.

High confidence

2018 Topps UFC Chrome #34, released 19 September 2018 while he held the undisputed middleweight title, repeats the 2017 rainbow and closes the Topps chapter. The striking thing about that whole run is what is missing from it: Whittaker is not in the 37-fighter 2017 Chrome Autographs checklist, nor in the UFC Fire, Museum, Tier 1 or Top of the Class autograph subsets. He signed nothing at all across Topps' 2015-2018 licence, so there is no rookie-year autograph and no early signed card to hunt.

High confidence

Panini's first UFC year gave him more cards than his entire Topps run. The 28 April 2021 Prizm UFC release has him twice in the base set — vertical #11 and horizontal #105, since the 200-card run is 100 of each — with fifteen parallel tiers behind #11 from Silver to a Black 1/1, plus Instant Impact, Fearless and Fireworks inserts. Two cards from that year dominate everything else: Color Blast #5, an unnumbered deep case hit that is the chase card of his whole catalogue and the reason his market lives in 2021 Prizm rather than his rookie set, and Octagon Signatures #24, his first certified autograph — at age 30, more than eight years after his UFC debut and four years after he won the title. A National Treasures card numbered to 99 sits in Chronicles UFC at #366, in that brand's continuous numbering rather than in Prizm, where the base set stops at 200.

High confidence

The licence returned to Topps on 20 March 2024 and he came back with base #15, an Allen & Ginter card, a Pathblazers insert, and — nine years after his Topps rookie and three years after Panini finally got him to sign — his first Topps autograph, Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH, refractor-tiered from /150 through Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1. It is the modern signed Whittaker with the deepest rainbow to chase, and it means his signed cardboard, unusually for a former champion, is entirely a thing of the last five years.

High confidence

2015 Topps UFC Champions #64 — Robert Whittaker.

Probable

2017 Topps UFC Knockout #62 — Robert Whittaker.

High confidence

2017 Topps Chrome UFC #41 — Robert Whittaker.

Probable

2017 Topps Museum Collection UFC #26 — Robert Whittaker.

High confidence

2018 Topps Chrome UFC #34 — Robert Whittaker.

Verified

2021 Panini Prizm UFC #11 — Robert Whittaker.

Verified

2021 Panini Prizm UFC — Color Blast #5 — Robert Whittaker.

Probable

2021 Panini Prizm UFC Octagon Signatures #24 — Robert Whittaker.

Probable

2021 Panini Chronicles UFC #366 — Robert Whittaker.

High confidence

2024 Topps Chrome UFC Main Event Autographs #MEA-RWH — Robert Whittaker.