EXCLUSIVE: Ultimate Topps UFC Gallery

The September 2009 issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly, on sale everywhere beginning the week of August 10, includes a cover-story examination of the massive impact made by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and mixed martial arts on the world of mainstream sports cards.

Topps UFC Round 1, released last February, is largely considered the most successful sports card launch of 2009 with boxes currently selling in excess of $350, more than four times original SRP. The product made the biggest splash to date in a sports card industry that has been experimenting with MMA insert cards since 2006.

In addition to including UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar on the cover, the September issue of BSCM includes information on Topps UFC 2009, the highly anticipated follow-up product due out in August, Beckett’s first MMA Hot List and information on the first certified autograph cards of Lesnar and street-fighting legend Kimbo Slice.

Consider the following and exclusive Topps UFC 2009 gallery – featuring the 16-card The Ultimate Fighter 9 Same-Day Autograph set and Lesnar’s Bloodlines autograph – the scintillating undercard to the product’s August 12 main event.

Oh, and since some sneak peek information just won’t wait, we’re also sharing an image of Slice’s first signature, a TUF 10 Same-Day Signature (from the next installment of Spike TV’s popular reality show that begins in September), set for release in Topps’ third UFC product due out in the first quarter of 2010.

— Tracy Hackler