2012 Topps Bloodlines UFC: MMA cards go high-end

by Chris Harris

Mixed martial arts may not be a sport for everyone, but it has sustained a massive (and loyal) fanbase; and that fanbase has (so far) translated to trading cards.  As the sport of MMA has evolved, MMA trading cards have too; and the latest is Topps new UFC-licensed product.

2012 Topps Bloodlines UFC will be their first “high-end” MMA trading card product.  Weighing in at $25, each five-card pack will contain two base cards, a base parallel card, an insert card, and either an autograph, “Relic,” or manufactured “Relic” of some sort.  Every other pack will contain an autograph and every ten-pack Hobby box will yield six Relics.

The base set is 150 fighters deep and drawn from both the UFC and their sister-promotion Strikeforce.  The cards will also be available in all the usual low-numbered parallels common to other Topps UFC products.

There are two insert sets, with each pack promising at least one card.  “Fighting Forefathers” takes the concept of including retired fighters and Hall of Famers that have become common in many of Topps’ baseball and football offerings and applies it to UFC.  There are 10 cards in the Fighting Forefathers set.  Meanwhile “Bloodlines” (the insert set and the basis of this product) spotlights fifteen fighters and the countries they represent in the ring.  Low-numbered parallels of both inserts, ranging from the Blacks (serial-numbered to 88) to the one-of-one Platinum, will be randomly inserted, as well as autographed and Relic editions of both.

Speaking of which, every pack will contain a “hit” and, as to be expected from a similarly-priced Topps product from baseball or football, a multitude of over-sized and/or autographed “Relics,” manufactured “Relics,” autographs, multi-autographed “book” cards and the like.  Most will be serial-numbered.  All will come in various low-numbered parallels.  As a bonus, 100 randomly seeded Hobby boxes will include a framed “Announce Card” autographed by UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer.

2012 Topps Bloodlines UFC will be released the week of November 12.  A checklist and preview gallery is below.  Click here to check out Topps UFC cards on eBay.

UFC Bloodlines 2012 Checklist – HOBBY

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for more than 30 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]