The rookie case
2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172
Strickland's first card of any kind, released 25 March 2022 — eight years and one month after his UFC debut. Panini Prizm UFC was the earliest 2022 UFC release, which is why this is the card the market and MMA Rookies settle on as the true rookie rather than the Donruss, Select or Optic Rated Rookies that followed. Because Topps never made a Strickland card during its 2009-2020 UFC licence, there is nothing at all in front of it.
No source disagrees about the year — every list reached starts at 2022. The disagreement is which 2022 card is the rookie: MMA Rookies and release order both point to Prizm #172, while the printed Rated Rookie logo sits on the Donruss and Optic cards, and eBay/grader labels call all five 'Rookie RC'. SportsCardsPro's structured 'Is Rookie Card' field reads 'No' for every Strickland card including #172, which is the same behaviour recorded for other fighters in this archive and is not treated as a counter-claim. TCDB, the usual RC-flag authority, is not reachable.
Key Strickland cards
10 cards chosen for significance, not completeness; autographs and numbered cards follow below.
Card history
Strickland is the clearest case in the archive of a fighter the card industry simply ignored. He beat Bubba McDaniel at UFC 171 on 15 March 2014 and became a roster regular, yet Topps never put him in a UFC product across the whole of its 2009-2020 licence, and no pre-UFC regional issue exists either. Topps' own Ripped article states the position plainly: his first Topps cards ever produced arrived in 2024. His card history therefore begins eight years and one month after his UFC debut, with nothing at all in front of it.
The whole rookie class lands inside one calendar year, which makes the argument unusually tidy: 2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172 on 25 March, Donruss #206 on 6 May, then Select Concourse #11, Donruss Optic #111 and Chronicles #76. MMA Rookies designates Prizm #172 the True Rookie Card and release order agrees, and Collectibles.com's register carries RC flags on only #172 and Donruss #206. The counter-argument is that the printed Rated Rookie shield sits on the Donruss and Optic cards — Prizm and Select base cards carry no RC logo at all — while graders and sellers market all five as 'Rookie RC'. Prizm #172 runs Silver and Teal /49 through Red /299, Mojo /25, Gold /10, a Blue Shimmer FOTL /7 and Black 1/1.
The signed cards start in the same rookie year, and which came first is unresolved: the Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Signatures version of #111 — the chromium Rated Rookie, which is why its graded population behaves differently from the paper Donruss — and the Panini Immaculate Collection Memorabilia Autograph #103, a patch-and-signature card numbered to 99 with Gold and Red Ink versions above it. Both come from late in Panini's 2022 UFC calendar and neither has a published release date. Among the base rookies, Select #11 has the deepest colour ladder of the group, with a White Prizm /75 and an Orange Flash the versions that actually trade; note that Select's tiered design means a Strickland card numbered in the 300s is a separate card, not a parallel.
He took the middleweight title off Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision at UFC 293 in Sydney on 10 September 2023, and his champion-year cards are the last Panini ever made of him: Prizm #61, which sellers began tagging 'new middleweight champ' within days, closing out a self-contained two-card Prizm run; the Select Octagon Action Signatures #OA-SSK with a Red Prizm /99 and a Cracked Ice version; and an Autographed Memorabilia card #AM-SSK with a Red Prizm /49 alongside it.
Topps finally reached him in 2024, four years after it had finished with the UFC the first time: Topps Chrome UFC #174 on 20 March, two months after he lost the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, carrying the full refractor ladder from Speckle /299 down through Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1 — his first Topps card of any kind, and not a rookie, since by then he was a former champion. 2024 Topps Midnight UFC followed in May with base #28 and two inserts, and the UFC Signatures card #FNA-SST gave him his first Topps-certified autograph, closing the gap that had left a middleweight champion with nothing but Panini signatures. His second reign, the split-decision win over Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on 9 May 2026, is marked by a Topps Now artist fight-poster short print, #328-SP, a print-to-order card whose run depends entirely on its sales window.
Autographs
3 certified autographs in the archive.
Card eras
Strickland beat Bubba McDaniel at UFC 171 on 15 March 2014 and became a regular on the roster, but Topps never put him in a UFC product. No Topps UFC card of him exists from 2014 through the end of the licence in 2020, and no pre-UFC regional issue has surfaced either.
His entire rookie class lands in one calendar year: Prizm #172 on 25 March, Donruss Rated Rookie #206 on 6 May, then Select Concourse #11, Donruss Optic Rated Rookie #111 and Chronicles #76. MMA Rookies designates Prizm #172 the true rookie; the Donruss and Optic cards are the ones with a printed Rated Rookie shield.
Autographs arrive in the same rookie year: the Optic Rated Rookie Signatures version of #111 and the Immaculate Collection Memorabilia Autograph #103 serialled /99, with Gold and Red Ink versions above it. Which of the two shipped first is unresolved.
Strickland beat Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision at UFC 293 in Sydney on 10 September 2023. His Panini cards from that year — Prizm #61, the Select Octagon Action Signatures #OA-SSK and the Autographed Memorabilia #AM-SSK — are the last Panini made of him before Topps took the licence back.
Topps' own Ripped article puts it plainly: his 'first Topps cards ever produced' debuted in 2024 Topps Chrome UFC (20 March, base #174) and 2024 Topps Midnight UFC (15 May, base #28, plus The One and Only #TO-25 and Moonfall #MF-12). 2024 Topps Now added a UFC 302 event-used mat relic.
He took the belt back from Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 on 9 May 2026. Topps Now issued an artist fight-poster short print, #328-SP, for the event, and 2026 Stadium Club and Topps Midnight UFC both carry him.
Rookie parallels
Sets
Where Strickland's key cards come from.
- 20222022 Panini Prizm UFC1 key card
- 20222022 Donruss UFC1 key card
- 20222022 Panini Select UFC1 key card
- 20222022 Donruss Optic UFC1 key card
- 20222022 Panini Immaculate Collection UFC1 key card
- 20232023 Panini Prizm UFC1 key card
- 20232023 Panini Select UFC — Octagon Action Signatures1 key card
- 20242024 Topps Chrome UFC1 key card
- 20242024 Topps Chrome UFC — UFC Signatures1 key card
- 20262026 UFC Topps Now1 key card
Buying & wanted
- 012022 Panini Prizm UFC #172 in high grade — the true rookie, and the only Strickland card with nothing in front of it
- 022022 Panini Immaculate Collection UFC Memorabilia Autograph #103 /99, and the Gold and Red Ink versions above it
- 032022 Donruss Optic UFC Rated Rookie Signatures #111 Holo Prizm — his other first-autograph candidate, and the only signed Rated Rookie
- 042024 Topps Chrome UFC #174 Orange Refractor /25 or SuperFractor — the numbered end of his first Topps card
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.
Sean Strickland's rookie card: 2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172 — Sean Strickland.
Strickland has no card before 2022, so the rookie question is only about which of five 2022 base cards wins. MMA Rookies explicitly names '2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172' his True Rookie Card and files Donruss #206, Select #11, Chronicles #76 and Optic #111 beneath it as other rookies. Collectibles.com's register carries only two RC-flagged Strickland cards, Prizm #172 and Donruss #206. Release order settles the tie the same way: Cardboard Connection dates Prizm UFC to 25 March 2022 and Donruss UFC to 6 May 2022, so #172 is both the designated true rookie and the earliest.
Strickland is the clearest case in the archive of a fighter the card industry simply ignored. He beat Bubba McDaniel at UFC 171 on 15 March 2014 and became a roster regular, yet Topps never put him in a UFC product across the whole of its 2009-2020 licence, and no pre-UFC regional issue exists either. Topps' own Ripped article states the position plainly: his first Topps cards ever produced arrived in 2024. His card history therefore begins eight years and one month after his UFC debut, with nothing at all in front of it.
The whole rookie class lands inside one calendar year, which makes the argument unusually tidy: 2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172 on 25 March, Donruss #206 on 6 May, then Select Concourse #11, Donruss Optic #111 and Chronicles #76. MMA Rookies designates Prizm #172 the True Rookie Card and release order agrees, and Collectibles.com's register carries RC flags on only #172 and Donruss #206. The counter-argument is that the printed Rated Rookie shield sits on the Donruss and Optic cards — Prizm and Select base cards carry no RC logo at all — while graders and sellers market all five as 'Rookie RC'. Prizm #172 runs Silver and Teal /49 through Red /299, Mojo /25, Gold /10, a Blue Shimmer FOTL /7 and Black 1/1.
The signed cards start in the same rookie year, and which came first is unresolved: the Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Signatures version of #111 — the chromium Rated Rookie, which is why its graded population behaves differently from the paper Donruss — and the Panini Immaculate Collection Memorabilia Autograph #103, a patch-and-signature card numbered to 99 with Gold and Red Ink versions above it. Both come from late in Panini's 2022 UFC calendar and neither has a published release date. Among the base rookies, Select #11 has the deepest colour ladder of the group, with a White Prizm /75 and an Orange Flash the versions that actually trade; note that Select's tiered design means a Strickland card numbered in the 300s is a separate card, not a parallel.
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland #111 [Rookie] | 2022 Panini Donruss Optic UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland [Memorabilia Autograph] #103 | 2022 Panini Immaculate UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland #11 | 2022 Panini Select UFC (Concourse), accessed September 22, 2026
He took the middleweight title off Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision at UFC 293 in Sydney on 10 September 2023, and his champion-year cards are the last Panini ever made of him: Prizm #61, which sellers began tagging 'new middleweight champ' within days, closing out a self-contained two-card Prizm run; the Select Octagon Action Signatures #OA-SSK with a Red Prizm /99 and a Cracked Ice version; and an Autographed Memorabilia card #AM-SSK with a Red Prizm /49 alongside it.
Topps finally reached him in 2024, four years after it had finished with the UFC the first time: Topps Chrome UFC #174 on 20 March, two months after he lost the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, carrying the full refractor ladder from Speckle /299 down through Gold /50, Orange /25, Black /10, Red /5 and a SuperFractor 1/1 — his first Topps card of any kind, and not a rookie, since by then he was a former champion. 2024 Topps Midnight UFC followed in May with base #28 and two inserts, and the UFC Signatures card #FNA-SST gave him his first Topps-certified autograph, closing the gap that had left a middleweight champion with nothing but Panini signatures. His second reign, the split-decision win over Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 on 9 May 2026, is marked by a Topps Now artist fight-poster short print, #328-SP, a print-to-order card whose run depends entirely on its sales window.
2022 Panini Prizm UFC #172 — Sean Strickland.
2022 Donruss UFC #206 — Sean Strickland.
- 2022 Donruss UFC, accessed September 21, 2026
- Collectibles.comSean Strickland Cards: Values, Rookies, accessed September 22, 2026
- MMA RookiesStrickland, Sean | rookie card vault, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland [Gold] #206 | 2022 Panini Donruss UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
2022 Panini Select UFC #11 — Sean Strickland.
2022 Donruss Optic UFC #111 — Sean Strickland.
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland #111 [Rookie] | 2022 Panini Donruss Optic UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
- MMA RookiesStrickland, Sean | rookie card vault, accessed September 22, 2026
- eBay2022 Panini Donruss Optic UFC - Rated Rookie Sean Strickland #111 Holo Prizm Signatures (AU, RC), accessed September 22, 2026
- Sports Card InvestorSean Strickland MMA Cards Price Guide, accessed September 22, 2026
2022 Panini Immaculate Collection UFC #103 — Sean Strickland.
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland [Memorabilia Autograph] #103 | 2022 Panini Immaculate UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland [Memorabilia Autograph Gold] #103 | 2022 Panini Immaculate UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
- SportsCardsProSean Strickland [Memorabilia Autograph Red] #103 | 2022 Panini Immaculate UFC, accessed September 22, 2026
2023 Panini Prizm UFC #61 — Sean Strickland.
2023 Panini Select UFC — Octagon Action Signatures #OA-SSK — Sean Strickland.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC #174 — Sean Strickland.
2024 Topps Chrome UFC — UFC Signatures #FNA-SST — Sean Strickland.
- Checklist Insider2024 Topps Chrome UFC Checklist, accessed September 21, 2026
2026 UFC Topps Now #328-SP — Sean Strickland / Khamzat Chimaev.