Ilia Topuria in 2024: the collections and fights of the year
2024 is the year Ilia Topuria became champion and Topps went back to printing UFC. We have catalogued 191 cards with 2024 in the name, from 8 collections; 181 have a photo of the actual copy. Here they are in release order, next to his two title nights.
Ilia Topuria started 2024 at 14-0 and ended it at 16-0, 8-0 in the UFC, featherweight champion:
17 February, UFC 298 in Anaheim: KO of Alexander Volkanovski in the second round, at 3:32, and the featherweight title, per the official UFC 298 page.
26 October, UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi: first defence, KO of Max Holloway in the third round, at 1:34, per the official UFC 308 page.
The 2024 collections, in release order
In our catalogue, 2024 is the first Topps year with Ilia Topuria: Topps Chrome UFC had not been issued since 2019, Panini held the UFC exclusive from 2021 and Topps took the licence back, per Checklist Insider (secondary source). Hobby release dates:
20 March 2024: 2024 Topps Chrome UFC, base #77 and the Fired Up and Brick by Brick inserts, a month after the title; per Checklist Insider (secondary source).
2024 Finest, Metal Universe and Royalty came out in 2025, around the time he gave up the featherweight belt (Ilia Topuria in 2025): they are still 2024 cards.
And three 2023 collections came out in 2024: Goodwin Champions and Immaculate in January, Metal Universe in April. They are in Ilia Topuria in 2023.
Card year and fight year
The title win over Volkanovski has no 2024 card. Topps Chrome base #77 came out a month after UFC 298 and its back still tells the 2023 Josh Emmett fight. There was no Topps NOW of that night: the UFC 298 cards are from 2025 collections, in UFC 298 cards.
UFC 308 does have 2024 cards: Topps NOW #27 and its relic, Ilia Topuria's only event-used card. The whole night, with the 2025 insert that recalls it, is in UFC 308 cards.