Ilia Topuria in 2023: the collections and the fight of the year
2023 is Ilia Topuria's year with the most manufacturers: Panini and Upper Deck. We have catalogued 214 cards with 2023 in the name, from 7 collections; 197 have a photo of the actual copy. Here they are in release order, next to his only fight of the year.
Ilia Topuria fought once in 2023: on 24 June, in Jacksonville, he headlined a UFC card for the first time and beat Josh Emmett by unanimous decision after five rounds, per the official event page. He ended the year at 14-0, 6-0 in the UFC, with the featherweight title fight ahead.
The back of 2024 Topps Chrome base #77 tells it like this: 152 significant strikes and his first Fight of the Night bonus, after back-to-back Performance of the Night bonuses.
The 2023 collections, in release order
The first four are Panini and came out in 2023; the last three carry 2023 in the name but arrived in 2024:
9 June 2023: 2023 Donruss UFC, base #72, no longer with the Rated Rookie tag, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
21 July 2023: 2023 Select UFC, Octagonside #250, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
13 October 2023: 2023 Chronicles UFC, with Illusions #269, Luminance #154 and the Panini Direct On The Horizon #OTH-IT, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
4 January 2024: 2023 Goodwin Champions, his Upper Deck debut: base #73, Platinum, Splash of Color, All-World and his first autographs, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
5 January 2024: 2023 Immaculate UFC, #47 and Jumbo Memorabilia, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
2023 Goodwin Champions, Immaculate and Metal Universe came out in 2024. The first two weeks before UFC 298; Metal Universe two months after he won the featherweight title. All three are still 2023 cards, which is how they are searched for.
The other way round, the Immaculate released in February 2023 carries 2022 in its name: it is in Ilia Topuria in 2022.
The first autographs
There are no Ilia Topuria autographs in 2022. The first in our catalogue come with Upper Deck's 2023 collections: the Goodwin Champions Autograph cards and the Metal Universe Champions Autographs #14. All his signatures are in Ilia Topuria autographs.
2023 Goodwin Champions also prints the ROOKIE or RC mark on several of his cards; what that means is in Ilia Topuria rookie cards.
Card year and fight year
No 2023 card tells the Josh Emmett fight: the one that does is 2024 Topps Chrome base #77, released in March 2024, a month after the title, and it still talks about Emmett. It is in Ilia Topuria in 2024.
In our catalogue, 2023 is Panini's last year: from 2024 his UFC cards are Topps, except 2024 Metal Universe, by SkyBox.
Release dates, all from secondary sources: Waxstat; Cardboard Connection for Donruss, Select, Chronicles, Goodwin Champions and Immaculate; Checklist Insider for Metal Universe.
The back quoted is that of the photographed copy in this collection.