The rookie
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1
Topps opened its first UFC set with UFC 1: Gracie against Art Jimmerson and his single boxing glove, 12 November 1993. It is the hobby's rookie card for Gracie and the card most collectors mean when they ask for one, and being card #1 of the licence's first set gives it a status nothing later can take.
Sellers occasionally list 1990s-dated Gracie items as rookie cards; no 1990s licensed card of him is catalogued anywhere, and those items are customs, reprints or non-card memorabilia. Some eBay listings also title the 2006 Pride FC #97 a 'Royce Gracie Rookie', which is listing language rather than a designation. Topps made him card number 1 in five different products, so the 2010 Topps UFC base card is frequently listed as the rookie on the strength of its number alone.
- Earliest licensed card2006 PRIDE FC #097 Probable
- First MMA card2006 PRIDE FC #097 Probable
- First UFC card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 High confidence
- First certified autograph2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #A-RG High confidence
- Recognized rookie card2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 High confidence
The evidence behind each
- 2006Earliest licensed card — Cardbase's 2006 Pride FC set page lists #97 as Hidehiko Yoshida / Royce Gracie and it appears in graded form in eBay listings. Searches for a 1990s licensed Gracie card return only customs, reprints and signed photographs, so nothing earlier has been documented.
- 2006First MMA card — Cardbase's 2006 Pride FC set page; no non-MMA Gracie card appears in Collectibles.com's register.
- 2009First UFC card — Jeff Allender's House of Checklists gives #1 as 'Royce Gracie - Art Jimmerson' in the Round 1 base run, and SportsCardsPro catalogues the same card. Topps did not hold the UFC licence before 2009.
- 2009First certified autograph — Jeff Allender's Round 1 autograph checklist lists A-RG Royce Gracie among the 38 signers, and Topps' own Ripped article features the card. The 2006 Pride FC set's 'Gold Foil Signature' and 'Silver Foil Signature' rows are printed facsimile-signature parallels, not certified autographs, so they do not precede it.
- 2009Recognized rookie card — Collectibles.com's register carries the card as '2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 RC Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson' and dates his rookie year to 2009; Topps' own Ripped article labels the companion Round 1 autograph '#A-RG RC'. eBay's catalogue titles the base card '(RC)' as well.
Key Gracie cards
13 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.
Card history
Gracie won UFC 1, 2 and 4 and fought Kazushi Sakuraba for ninety minutes in Tokyo without a licensed trading card of him ever being issued — Topps did not take the UFC licence until October 2008, and no 1990s UFC-licensed Gracie card is catalogued anywhere. Anything dated to those years is a custom or a later reprint. His earliest licensed card is Japanese and comes thirteen years into his career: 2006 Pride FC #97, sharing a front with Hidehiko Yoshida, with a Gold Foil Signature parallel. It is the only cardboard that ties him to the Japanese half of his career.
The rookie the hobby actually trades is 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 — Gracie against Art Jimmerson and his single boxing glove, 12 November 1993, the first card of the first Topps UFC set. Parallels run Gold, Silver /288, retail Black /888 and a Red 1/1. Sources do not fully agree on the designation: eBay's catalogue title carries '(RC)' and Collectibles.com states he debuted as a rookie in 2009, while SportsCardsPro's rookie field for the same card reads 'No'. The 2006 Pride FC card is earlier but is not UFC-licensed and no database designates it a rookie.
Round 1 also carried his first signature and his first relic. Autographs #A-RG came out of a 38-card checklist falling roughly one in five packs, with a Red Ink version numbered to 25, and the hobby-only 23-card Ultimate Gear subset gave him #UG-RG plus an autographed #AUG-RG numbered to 25 — the hardest single Gracie card from that first set. He signs sparingly for manufacturers, which is why those two remain the anchor signatures of the run.
Topps then made him card #1 over and over: base #1 in 2010 Topps UFC, 2010 Main Event, 2010 Knockout and 2011 Title Shot, which is why so many Gracie cards carry that number and why the 2010 issues are so often mistaken online for the rookie. The 2010 flagship also carried his third certified Topps signature, Fighters & Personalities Autographs #FA-RG, described as on-card - the second was Round 2 Autographs #FA-RG in September 2009, which shares the code exactly, so a listing that gives only 'Gracie #FA-RG' does not identify the set. The scarce ends of this stretch are Knockout's one-of-one Octagon Mat version of #1 and Title Shot's Diamond, which sits above Bronze, Silver, Gold and Red versions of the same card.
Panini kept him out of the 200-card Prizm base checklist entirely and used him only as a signer: Sensational Signatures, numbered #14 on one checklist and written #SS-RGC on another, with Silver, Green, Red /49, Blue /35, Mojo /25, Gold /10 and a Black 1/1. Topps' return in 2024 restored him as a Hall of Famer — Chrome UFC Hall of Fame Autographs #HFA-RGR on a refractor ladder from /150 down to a SuperFractor 1/1, and Knockout's Pillars of the Octagon #PTG-RGE numbered to 99 with Blue /50, Gold /8 and Platinum 1/1 above it.
Autographs
6 certified autographs in the archive.
Numbered & parallels
Serial-numbered cards and parallels with their own record.
Card eras
Gracie won UFC 1, 2 and 4 and fought Sakuraba for 90 minutes in Tokyo without a licensed trading card being issued of him. Anything dated to this period that turns up online is a custom or a later reprint.
A Pride FC set gave him #97 alongside Hidehiko Yoshida, plus a Gold Foil Signature parallel — three years before Topps put UFC cards in packs.
Topps UFC Round 1 leads off with #1, Gracie vs Art Jimmerson, the card the hobby treats as his rookie. The same set carries his first certified autograph (#A-RG, Red Ink /25) and his first relic (#UG-RG, with an autographed #AUG-RG /25).
Topps made him base #1 in Topps UFC, Main Event, Knockout and 2011 Title Shot, and the 2010 flagship added a third certified signature at #FA-RG — a code Topps had already used for his 2009 Round 2 autograph. The Knockout Octagon Mat and Title Shot Diamond versions of #1 are the scarce ends of this run.
Panini kept him out of the Prizm base checklist and used him as a signer instead: Sensational Signatures #14, with Red /49, Blue /35, Mojo /25, Gold /10 and a Black 1/1, plus dual autographs in Immaculate.
Rookie parallels
Sets
Where Gracie's key cards come from.
- 20062006 PRIDE FC1 key card
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 13 key cards
- 20092009 Topps UFC Round 2 Autographs1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC (Series 4)1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Autographs1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Main Event1 key card
- 20102010 Topps UFC Knockout1 key card
- 20112011 Topps UFC Title Shot1 key card
- 20212021 Panini Prizm UFC Sensational Signatures1 key card
- 20242024 Topps Chrome UFC1 key card
- 20242024 Topps UFC Knockout1 key card
Buying & wanted
- 012009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson — Silver /288 or the Red 1/1
- 022009 Topps UFC Round 1 Autographs #A-RG, especially the Red Ink /25
- 032009 Topps UFC Round 1 Ultimate Gear Autographs #AUG-RG /25
- 042024 Topps Chrome UFC Hall of Fame Autographs #HFA-RGR SuperFractor 1/1
- 052006 Pride FC #97 Gold Foil Signature (Yoshida / Gracie)
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 High confidence×11Probable×8
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.
Royce Gracie's rookie card: 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 — Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 is his first card in a UFC-licensed product and the first card of the first Topps UFC set, depicting his UFC 1 win over Art Jimmerson. eBay's catalogue sells it as '(RC)', Collectibles.com's register says 'Royce Gracie debuted as a Rookie in 2009' and lists it as RC, and Topps' own article presents the Round 1 cards as his earliest. The 2006 Pride FC card is earlier but is not UFC-licensed and carries no rookie designation anywhere.
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 1 - Royce Gracie, Art Jimmerson #1 (RC), accessed September 22, 2026
- Collectibles.comRoyce Gracie Cards: Values, Rookies, accessed September 22, 2026
- Topps RippedTopps UFC | Royce Gracie's Cards to Collect, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 1 — Art Jimmerson, Royce Gracie #1, accessed September 22, 2026
- NSListsUFC Round 1 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
Gracie won UFC 1, 2 and 4 and fought Kazushi Sakuraba for ninety minutes in Tokyo without a licensed trading card of him ever being issued — Topps did not take the UFC licence until October 2008, and no 1990s UFC-licensed Gracie card is catalogued anywhere. Anything dated to those years is a custom or a later reprint. His earliest licensed card is Japanese and comes thirteen years into his career: 2006 Pride FC #97, sharing a front with Hidehiko Yoshida, with a Gold Foil Signature parallel. It is the only cardboard that ties him to the Japanese half of his career.
The rookie the hobby actually trades is 2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 — Gracie against Art Jimmerson and his single boxing glove, 12 November 1993, the first card of the first Topps UFC set. Parallels run Gold, Silver /288, retail Black /888 and a Red 1/1. Sources do not fully agree on the designation: eBay's catalogue title carries '(RC)' and Collectibles.com states he debuted as a rookie in 2009, while SportsCardsPro's rookie field for the same card reads 'No'. The 2006 Pride FC card is earlier but is not UFC-licensed and no database designates it a rookie.
Round 1 also carried his first signature and his first relic. Autographs #A-RG came out of a 38-card checklist falling roughly one in five packs, with a Red Ink version numbered to 25, and the hobby-only 23-card Ultimate Gear subset gave him #UG-RG plus an autographed #AUG-RG numbered to 25 — the hardest single Gracie card from that first set. He signs sparingly for manufacturers, which is why those two remain the anchor signatures of the run.
Topps then made him card #1 over and over: base #1 in 2010 Topps UFC, 2010 Main Event, 2010 Knockout and 2011 Title Shot, which is why so many Gracie cards carry that number and why the 2010 issues are so often mistaken online for the rookie. The 2010 flagship also carried his third certified Topps signature, Fighters & Personalities Autographs #FA-RG, described as on-card - the second was Round 2 Autographs #FA-RG in September 2009, which shares the code exactly, so a listing that gives only 'Gracie #FA-RG' does not identify the set. The scarce ends of this stretch are Knockout's one-of-one Octagon Mat version of #1 and Title Shot's Diamond, which sits above Bronze, Silver, Gold and Red versions of the same card.
Panini kept him out of the 200-card Prizm base checklist entirely and used him only as a signer: Sensational Signatures, numbered #14 on one checklist and written #SS-RGC on another, with Silver, Green, Red /49, Blue /35, Mojo /25, Gold /10 and a Black 1/1. Topps' return in 2024 restored him as a Hall of Famer — Chrome UFC Hall of Fame Autographs #HFA-RGR on a refractor ladder from /150 down to a SuperFractor 1/1, and Knockout's Pillars of the Octagon #PTG-RGE numbered to 99 with Blue /50, Gold /8 and Platinum 1/1 above it.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 — Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson.
- NSListsUFC Round 1 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- SportsCardsPro2009 Topps UFC Round 1 — Art Jimmerson, Royce Gracie #1, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay2009 Topps UFC Round 1 - Royce Gracie, Art Jimmerson #1 (RC), accessed September 22, 2026
- Collectibles.comRoyce Gracie Cards: Values, Rookies, accessed September 22, 2026
2006 PRIDE FC #097 — Royce Gracie / Hidehiko Yoshida.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #A-RG — Royce Gracie.
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #UG-RG — Royce Gracie.
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #1 — Royce Gracie.
2010 Topps UFC (Series 4) #FA-RG — Royce Gracie.
2010 Topps UFC Main Event #1 — Royce Gracie.
2010 Topps UFC Knockout #1 — Royce Gracie.
2011 Topps UFC Title Shot #1 — Royce Gracie.
2021 Panini Prizm UFC Sensational Signatures #14 — Royce Gracie.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC #HFA-RGR — Royce Gracie.
2024 Topps UFC Knockout #PTG-RGE — Royce Gracie.
2009 Topps UFC Round 2 Autographs #FA-RG — royce-gracie.
- NSListsUFC Round 2 (Topps, 2009) checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
- sportscardspro.comaccessed September 23, 2026