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True rookie
2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson — front
#1
Rookie card guide

Royce Gracie
Rookie Card

Which card is the rookie, how to tell it, and what gets mistaken for it.

  • The answer2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1
  • SubjectRoyce Gracie / Art Jimmerson
  • Year2009
  • ManufacturerTopps
  • ConfidenceHigh confidence
  • Print runUnknown — not estimated
High confidence×2Uncertain×1View sources & research

Why this is the rookie

Collectibles.com's card register carries a rookie-card designation on this exact card, and Topps itself labels the matching Round 1 autograph a rookie card in its own editorial, so the 2009 Round 1 issue is where both the hobby and the manufacturer place Gracie's rookie. It is also card number one of the first Topps UFC set, which is why it is the card collectors mean when they ask for a Gracie rookie. A 2006 Japanese PRIDE card of him exists and is earlier, but it is not UFC-licensed, it is shared with Hidehiko Yoshida, and no database or price guide designates it a rookie card.

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.

Commonly misidentified

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.

Identifying it

  • Card #1, the first card of the 102-card common set per Jeff Allender's checklist
  • Two-fighter matchup front: Gracie vs Art Jimmerson at UFC 1
  • Silver parallel is serial numbered to 288; Black retail parallel to 888; Red is a 1/1; Gold is unnumbered

What gets mistaken for it

What you'll readWhat's true
Gracie has a 1990s UFC rookie card from his UFC 1-4 run.No 1990s UFC-licensed card of Gracie is catalogued anywhere. Topps only took the UFC licence in October 2008, and the 1990s-dated Gracie items sold online are customs or later reprints.
The 2006 Pride FC #97 is his rookie card because sellers title it 'Royce Gracie Rookie'.That is listing language. #97 is his earliest licensed card, but it is a Japanese PRIDE issue shared with Hidehiko Yoshida and no database, grader or price guide designates it a rookie.

Parallels

Base
—
Unnumbered
Red
1/1
Probable
Silver
/288
High confidence
Black
/888
Probable
Gold
—
Probable

Card milestones

Five separate questions, kept separate. How these are defined.

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.

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×2Uncertain×1

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

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.

High confidence

2009 Topps UFC Round 1 #1 — Royce Gracie / Art Jimmerson.

Uncertain

Rookie status is flagged inconsistently: eBay's catalogue title carries (RC) and Collectibles.com says 'Royce Gracie debuted as a Rookie in 2009', while SportsCardsPro's rookie-card field for this exact card reads 'No'.

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