2017 Topps UFC Chrome Hobby Box Break

The box containing my Gint-a-Cuffs box of Allen & Ginter arrived the other day, along with several other things I'd ordered. Most of the breaks were pretty good, but the Allen & Ginter box was pretty disappointing. I am having a hard time getting myself motivated to scan the cards and add up the points for the contest, but I will try to get it done by the deadline.

The product that held up the order (I placed the order in July) was 2017 Topps UFC Chrome, which got bumped back quite a bit from the original release date. I ordered a box of it, as Chrome is something that Topps hadn't done yet for UFC. The box has 24 packs in it, with 4 cards per pack and two autographs per box.

The pack design mirrors the box design, so there isn't much to talk about here.

Here are the odds from the back of a pack. Based on this, I am expecting 8 base Refractors, a Blue Wave Refractor, a Green Refractor, an X-Fractor, 4 each of the Top of the Class, Museum Collection, Tier One, and UFC Fire inserts, and the two promised autographs.

Here are the front and back of Neil Magny's base card. The design is pretty familiar to anyone who collected Topps Baseball this year. The backs feature social media handles and a paragraph about the fighter. The cards look pretty good overall, although I noticed a fair number of reused images.

I got 64 base cards total in the box with no doubles, so if collation is decent you could build a 100-card base set with two boxes. This is a selection of 8 base cards I chose to scan. Randa Markos and Jim Miller are two of my primary fighter collections. Jessica Andrade and Ovince Saint Preux put on quite a show in their fights last night. I kind of collect Liz Carmouche and Stipe Miocic's cards, although I don't usually chase them down specifically. Paige VanZant is popular and I thought the Derek Brunson card had a cool image, so I included them to fill up the scan.

I pulled the expected 8 Refractors from the box. The fighter selection on these is all right, with Rose Namajunas, Mickey Gall, Nate Diaz, and Amanda Nunes being the bigger names of the group, in my opinion.

I got the expected X-Fractor in Nate Diaz, a Green Refractor of Robbie Lawler, and a Bule Wave Refractor of Raquel Pennington. The extra parallel in the lower right is a Red Refractor parallel of Matt Hughes, numbered # 4 / 5. That's a 1:359 pack insert, so I did pretty well there. The Nate Diaz is not numbered, the Robbie Lawler is # 51 / 99, and the Raquel Pennington is # 44 / 75.

The UFC Fire inserts are based on an insert called Fired Up from a previous Topps UFC Fire internet-exclusive product, but they are given the Chrome treatment for this iteration. They are pretty cool. I especially like the way the American flag pops on that Frankie Edgar card.

Again, Mueseum Collection takes the design from this year's Museum Collection product and applies the Chrome treatment to it. These look all right, although that's a lot of silver on the front of them.

I pulled the expected four base inserts from the Tier One insert, and I also got a couple of extras in the form of parallels. The Cody Garbrandt card is a Refractor and numbered # 86 / 99. That's maybe a relatively high print run, but these are a 1:73 pack insert, so not extremely easy to pull. The Anderson Silva card is even harder, being essentially a 2 per case hit at 1:144 packs. That one is a Pulsar Refractor, numbered # 23 / 50.

Closing out the inserts are four Top of the Class cards, which again take a previous UFC product and make the design shiny. There was a lot of Arianny Celeste and Chuck Liddell in this box. I also pulled the insert of Conor McGregor, who may eventually return to the Octagon after his stint in boxing.

Finally, I got my two promised autographs. These are signed on-card. I guess I could have pulled better names, but at least my base autograph is a 1st Autograph of Thomas Almeida and I got a parallel autograph of a fighter from the Women's Division in Joanne Calderwood. Both fighters display some pretty good penmanship here.

I believe Green is the most common of the autograph parallels, seeded at 1:57 packs. The Joanne Calderwood card is numbered # 43 / 99, while the base autographs are not serially-numbered.

Overall, this was a pretty good break. The cards look really good, and I got some neat stuff like a Red Refractor and a 2 per case insert. If I had $800 to blow, I would totally love to bust a case of this stuff. I know there aren't a lot of UFC collectors on the card blogs, but if you're interested in a cool UFC product I would give Chrome a shot.

Pack of the Day 158: A Box of 2017 Topps UFC Fire

The online-only releases from Topps are pretty much irresistible for me. I really try not to buy them because the MSRP plus shipping makes them a little more expensive than my impulse-buy threshold. Really, a hanger pack or discount blaster is about the limit of my impulse-buy threshold, and these online only things run $24.99 plus $7-8 in shipping (for the slowest shipping you can imagine. Seriously, it takes well over a week to get from them to me. This one took 10 days, shipping out on 22 MAR and arriving on 01 APR.). But I'm a sucker, so I'm usually good for at least one box of whatever UFC or WWE products they put out there.

In this case, it was 2017 Topps UFC Fire. Topps has partnered with an artist named Tyson Beck on the Fire concept, which has been used for sets and inserts across several sports. The UFC Fire product comes in the form of a 50-card base set with parallels, a 20-card Fired Up insert set, and autographs of 39 different UFC personalities. The autographs also have parallels.

Each pack/box has 20 cards in it, which I think are universally broken out as 16 base cards, 2 parallels, 1 insert, and 1 autograph. The more common parallel in the set isn't listed in the odds up there, but it is called Red Hot and numbered # / 142.

Here's a look at some of the base cards. It looks like there are three different base card designs. Some of the photo editing looks a little weird. I purchased a full base set on eBay, and Holly Holm in particular looked like she had a nasty skin infection. Many of the other fighters look weird, too. Octagon girl Arianny Celeste gets a card in the set, as well as a spot on the autograph checklist. Now that the UFC has a robust set of weight classes for women, it seems a little weird and outdated to have the Octagon Girls parading around. I guess it is tradition and a hallmark of fighting, but I think it's weird. Also, my wife or my sons seem to look over at the screen every time I'm watching fights and the cameras pan across the Octagon Girls. The UFC probably isn't going to hire Octagon Guys to hold the round cards when females are fighting, so they should probably just do away with the eye candy between rounds thing (in my opinion).

The base checklist has pretty much all the people you'd expect to see in a checklist like this. With Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey both being away from the sport for a while, it's hard to see who the UFC has on the roster with mass appeal that will get eyes on their product. People who are already fans will have a deeper roster of fighters or matchups that they want to see, but that won't grow the popularity of the sport much. A lot of the current belt-holders aren't exactly dynamite on the microphone, or dominant enough to catch the interest of Joe Public.

My two parallels were both of the most basic Red Hot variety. That Dominick Cruz card wouldn't stay in place on the scanner bed. He was probably protesting against being right next to the guy who took his belt at UFC 207. I'm not really a fan of either guy. Garbrandt is numbered # 032 / 142 and Cruz is # 038 / 142. Neil Magny is a guy I collect, and his autograph would probably be pretty exciting if I hadn't already purchased a copy of it on eBay. Now I have two of them. This one is numbered # 104 / 199. My Fired Up insert features Tyron Woodley, the guy who has just barely retained his belt in two straight fights against Stephen Thompson.

This is a pretty cool product. I don't know if it's worth the asking price (to me). There are some pretty big names on the autograph checklist, but in all likelihood my box is pretty typical of what you're going to get. I may or may not grab another box at some point. Every so often, Topps will hold a holiday sale and blow out their online products at 40-50% off. If you can beat the re-sellers to the punch, that's probably the way to go. Getting two boxes of this or a box of this and a box of NXT for the asking price feels like a more reasonable deal for what you're likely to pull.

2016 Topps UFC NOW - UFC 205 + A Holiday Surprise from Topps

I got my Topps UFC NOW bundle of cards from UFC 205 a little while back, but haven't found time yet to post about them. I've got a lot of drafts in my queue, and I am trying to prioritize packages I've received from other bloggers over stuff from corporations and eBay sellers, but I also want to get some of the older stuff cleared out. It seems like half the time I am struggling to find material to post, and the other half I am considering posting twice a day so I can get to all of the many things I want to post about. I suppose I'm doing all right if that sort of problem appears on my list of worries.

UFC 205 was a pretty big deal, earning 5 Topps NOW cards. Card 205-A went to the big headline of the night, which was Conor McGregor winning the Lightweight belt in a dominant and rapid victory over Eddie Alvarez. The victory gave him both the Lightweight and Featherweight belts. After he held the belts for a couple of weeks, he gave up/was stripped of the Featherweight belt, which went back to Jose Aldo. Him winning the two belts was pretty impressive, but the UFC probably saw that there wasn't any more money in keeping two belts tied up by one guy, and gave back the belt to the weight division Conor was least likely to fight in again. That is my take on it, at least. This card had a print run of 474 copies, the 2nd-highest UFC NOW print run to date, trailing only McGregor's card from UFC 202.

Although Conor McGregor led the hype train that was the first UFC event in New York, the rest of the card had some good moments. Maybe the weirdest moment was at the end of the Tyron Woodley - Stephen Thompson fight for the Welterweight title. The bout was initially announced as a victory for Woodley, but then Bruce Buffer issued a correction, stating that it was instead a draw. Woodley looked confused and angry, and I really thought he was going to go after Buffer or anyone within reach. Luckily, someone explained to him that he would be allowed to keep his belt with a draw result, and he calmed down. The print run on this one was 108 copies.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Karolina Kowalkiewicz went the full five rounds in their battle for the Strawweight title. Jedrzejczyk was in control throughout, but Kowalkiewicz threatened a couple of times, especially in the 4th round, and gave it her all. She just couldn't beat the champion. I was kind of surprised that this one didn't sell more copies, but it came in just ahead of the Woodley card with 111 copies sold.

Yoel Romero's flying knee knockout of Chris Weidman was absolutely nasty. It was the kind of knockout that makes you jump out of your seat, but also wonder if you're a bad person for getting excited about this sport. Romero's upcoming title shot against Michael Bisping should be a good fight. This card got the smallest print run for the event, with just 82 copies ordered.

Finally, the fight between Raquel Pennington and Miesha Tate got a card. Pennington got the victory by decision in a very close and not particularly exciting bout, and then Miesha Tate stole the thunder by announcing her retirement during the post-fight interviews. This card got 103 orders, which is more than I would have expected for a Pennington card. I think Topps put these ones up for pre-order, so a number of copies may have been sold to collectors anticipating a Tate victory.

This was a pretty good UFC event, with plenty of big names on the card and a healthy dose of action. The upcoming UFC 207 promises to be a pretty huge event as well, and it will ultimately be judged by how the Amanda Nunes - Ronda Rousey fight plays out. I'm looking forward to it. A fighter whose cards I collect, Neil Magny, is also on the card for the Preliminaries, so I will be tuning in hoping for a victory out of him.

I've seen these popping up around the blogs, and I also received a Topps NOW holiday card. Rumor has it that anyone who directly ordered a card through the website during the 2016 season got one sent to them. You're probably out of luck if you only purchased them through re-sellers, although there are plenty listed on eBay if you need your fix. The greeting card is shown above...

...and down here is the trading card that was enclosed. It's got some of the most popular subjects from the 2016 Topps NOW set sharing one piece of cardboard. Most people seem to agree that Kris Bryant, Ichiro, and David Ortiz deserve a spot on the short list for this card, but question the inclusion of Yankees rookie Gary Sanchez. All I know is that people on the Blowout forums were going nuts for his cards every time another one was released. They couldn't get enough of this guy, and that is probably why he is included here.

This was a pretty cool move from Topps, and makes up somewhat for the practice of charging cardboard-addicted collectors to the tune of $9.99/card for their Topps NOW fix throughout the baseball season.

Pack of the Day 148: 2 Boxes of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact

I got home yesterday after two weeks in Utah for job training. The drive wasn't too bad. It rained and snowed most of the way through the 4-1/2 hour drive, but the roads weren't bad until I got to Boise. I didn't see any wrecks or anything until I got within 40 miles of home, and in those 40 miles I saw 5 or 6 wrecks, with 2 or 3 of those looking pretty serious. I didn't get tied up in any of it, though, and made it home without incident.

I was greeted by a giant pile of mail on and around my desk. I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn't get around to it. There were eBay winnings, trade packages, surprises, group break cards, commissioned artwork, and Black Friday purchases among the pile. I am still working on sorting and scanning it all so that I can post about it. I also have some packages to build and send out over the next few days. In the meantime, I picked up a couple boxes of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact from the Topps website a while back, and here is what I pulled from them.

High Impact is an online-exclusive set that was released in early 2016. The base checklist has 50 cards. There are parallels of the base set, one insert set, and autographs. Each box has 20 cards, with the breakdown being 16 base cards, 2 parallels, 1 insert, and 1 autograph.

The base cards are pretty standard stuff. Picture, name, and weight class on the front, biographical info on the back. The cards in the box I opened several months ago were miscut and hard to align on the scanner. This batch of cards was better. In the post on that first box I mentioned that I probably ought to quit while I was ahead. After this break was finished I found myself wishing that I had listened to me from the past.

Here are some of the horizontal base cards. With such a small checklist, Topps mostly focused on the bigger names in the UFC. I read somewhere that the UFC is going to open up another women's division at the 145 lb. Featherweight level, probably to help keep Cris Cyborg around. That's a pretty cool development.

Each box has two parallels. The unnumbered Blue parallel is the most common, but Red (# / 8) and Gold (1 / 1) are possible. All of my parallels in this batch were of the Blue variety, with Claudia Gadelha showing up in each box.

Femme Fighters is the only insert set in High Impact, with a 20-card checklist of female fighters. I pulled the first and last cards in the set, Julianna Pena and Liz Carmouche. It was disappointing that both of these inserts came out of the box with damaged corners, especially the Pena card. The top two corners were just mangled. I was pretty disappointed by that.

I saw this autograph and I was like, "Who?" Erik Perez is a Bantamweight fighter. I've seen him fight a few times, but I didn't remember it. What is interesting about this card is that he signed it with his nickname, 'Goyito.'

My second autograph was another guy whose name didn't ring a bell for me, James Vick. His most recent fight was a first-round knockout loss against Beneil Dariush at UFC 199 in June.

I guess not every break can be a winner. I already have a base set, but it would be cool to collect the Femme Fighters insert set. At one per box, though, it's not a very cost-effective pursuit. Singles are available out there, but the price tags attached to the big names are pretty high. I don't know if it's worth chasing.

UFC 206 is tonight. It will be interesting to see which fights Topps decides to commemorate with Topps NOW cards. My guess is that Max Holloway - Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone - Matt Brown get cards, but I don't know if any of the other fights on the card warrant a NOW release. I would say that the December 17th Fight Night has a better hobby lineup than UFC 206, but I really don't want Topps to start making NOW cards for Fight Nights.

Pack of the Day 144: 2016 Topps UFC Chronicles

When I made my (relatively) recent order from Blowout Cards, I tossed in a pack of 2016 Topps UFC Chronicles. This product was put out in a jumbo pack format, so you get a decent number of cards (40) and a 1:2 chance at pulling a hit of some kind. Each box contains 10 packs with 5 hits, made up of 3 relics and 2 autographs. Additionally, there are parallels and inserts.

Apparently this is my third pack break post of this stuff. I guess I must like it. I have to admit that I've been using the same scan of the pack front, though. Scanning is kind of a pain, so I will reuse a photo if I can.

The base cards don't really break any new ground. I think I showed that Robbie Lawler card in one of the other pack break posts. I just like cards that show title belts in the photo.

I guess I showed these cards in those other posts, too. There's nothing new under the sun, especially on this blog.

I got a couple of Black & White parallels in this pack. They are numbered out of # / 188. This is probably the best-looking parallel in the product. It would make for a cool set to collect, but I don't think I have the drive for something like that right now.

I was flipping through the images during my photo editing, and this happened. I don't know why it makes me laugh to see Holly Holm and Joe Lauzon switch places, but it does and I made a gif of it.

These must be the Silver parallels. Some pretty decent photos in this batch, especially that submission attempt on the Brandao card. Silvers are unnumbered and are barely distinguishable from the base cards.

Here are the inserts from the pack. I got a Fight Poster, an Octagon of Honor insert of Demetrious Johnson, a Victorious Debut of Jimi Manuwa, and an autograph of Yoel Romero. I can't complain too much about pulling a hit. Romero's autograph looks kind of funny since it's offset way to the left. It looks like he got interrupted halfway through writing his name.

Today's post is a little light on content, I suppose. Sometimes it's hard to get something written. The UFC had a stretch there with an event every weekend, but they've taken a bit of a break and there haven't been any fights for a little bit. There are some good fight cards coming up, though, so I have that to look forward to.