A Couple of UFC PSA's

Nope, not a Public Service Announcement, just a couple of Professional Sports Authenticator-graded cards. I didn't really care one way or the other about the grading and the holders, but these were a couple of cards I wanted. The grades on these two cards probably wound up hurting their sales prices, as they aren't those Gem Mint 10's that everyone wants. They are, however, listed as each fighter's 1st Autograph, which is a big thing among MMA collectors.

First up is this 2015 Topps UFC Knockout autograph of Julianna Pena. She is fighting Valentina Shevchenko tonight in the headliner for a UFC Fight Night event, with the winner probably getting a title shot against Amanda Nunes. I started a Pena collection recently, as the main fighters I've been collecting (Neil Magny and Randa Markos) haven't been showing up in many sets lately. Pena has been in most sets lately, so it gives me something to chase. She's a pretty decent fighter, too, and she is also relatively local. I went to school in Moscow, Idaho, for a while, which is just down the road from her hometown of Spokane, Washington. I now live a few hours south of there, but it's still considered pretty close in Western U.S. terms.

The second card I picked up in this lot is this 2013 Topps UFC Finest autograph of Liz Carmouche. She's a veteran, and that puts her on my list of folks who I will chase cards for. She also has a pretty cool signature, with the first part of it being "Liz" written in Kanji followed by her last initial. It was pretty nice to add her 1st Autograph to my collection.

I missed the first few fights in tonight's event, but I was able to start watching around the time the Main Card kicked off. I am hoping for a Julianna Pena victory, but my endorsement of her has probably guaranteed a loss. I guess I should have kept quiet. Hopefully she can overcome my unintentional hex and get the victory.