Back at the end of July, Corky from the Pack War blog let me know in a comment on one of my posts that UFC fighter Amanda Nunes had autographs in Upper Deck's card packs from The National Sports Collectors Convention. I had to go check that out, as it's fun to get things outside of the usual Topps UFC offerings.
Each autograph in the set only has one version, but the subjects have different print runs. The Nunes card has one of the larger print runs, and my copy is hand-numbered # 40 / 75. The autograph is on a sticker, but the sticker isn't too conspicuous. Upper deck doesn't have a UFC license, so Nunes is shown in neutral or airbrushed ring gear and there is no mention of the UFC by name on the card.
In addition to the autograph, I picked up a base card from the set, which Upper Deck released under the Prominent Cuts name. The back of this card has a little more information about Nunes, including a brief description of her win over Miesha Tate at UFC 200, which gave her the Bantamweight belt and set up her huge victory over Ronda Rousey in Rousey's return to the UFC at UFC 207. Since that fight, she has defended the belt one more time, winning a split decision over Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215. That was a close one that could have gone either way, but that's what happens when you leave it to the judges.
There were some decent fights this weekend, with a Friday-Saturday double-header featuring the The Ultimate Fighter 26 finale and UFC 218. I didn't watch all of the fights, but the ones I saw were mostly pretty entertaining, with the main card of UFC 218 featuring some pretty big stuff. Francis Ngannou knocked Alistair Overeem's block off in their fight. It was a ridiculous finish. It's a good thing Overeem is tough, because he just went to sleep for a few minutes. I probably would still be asleep if I took that punch. Max Holloway seemingly put the Jose Aldo era officially to bed in the main event, as the fight never really seemed close before he put Aldo away in the 3rd round.
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