Ilia Topuria Inception #IN-26: 2025 Topps Knockout UFC
We have catalogued 4 versions of Ilia Topuria's Inception #IN-26, the hundred-fighter insert in 2025 Topps Knockout UFC whose back recalls his UFC debut. 4 have a photo of the actual copy.
Inception is the longest insert in 2025 Topps Knockout UFC: 100 cards, from Alex Pereira (#IN-1) and Merab Dvalishvili (#IN-2) to Conor McGregor (#IN-100), with Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkanovski and Amanda Nunes in between. Ilia Topuria is #IN-26, per the official Topps checklist.
Front: Ilia Topuria from the knees up, shirtless and gloved, on a purple and red burst with a hexagon grid; “Inception” in fractured lettering at the top, and his name beside the Knockout UFC crest at the bottom.
Back: “Lightweight” and his UFC debut: he beat Youssef Zalal at UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs Sandhagen by unanimous decision, with five takedowns and 8:02 of control over three rounds. We read it on the photographed back of our copy.
A name that comes from baseball
Inception was not born in the UFC: the name comes from 2013 Bowman Inception, a baseball product, per BaseballCardPedia (secondary source). 2025 is its 2nd appearance in MMA cards; the first was the “UFC Inception” of 2020 Topps Knockout UFC, using the 2019 Inception baseball design, per Cardboard Connection (secondary source).
Checklist Insider and Giant Sports Cards, secondary sources, present it as new in 2025, leaving out the 2020 precedent. No source says which design the 2025 cards follow.
In 2026 it returns signed: 2026 Knockout brings Inception Signatures, 25 cards, and Ilia Topuria is not in it, per the official 2026 checklist.
Odds and print runs: the IN-26 ladder
Knockout is Hobby-only: 4 packs of 8 cards per box, with 3 autographs and 1 relic, per Checklist Insider (secondary source). Per-pack odds from the official sheet; print runs from our catalogue, matching Checklist Insider. In brackets, Ilia Topuria's card (our estimate, odds × 100):
Inception, unnumbered: 1:2 (1:200, about 50 boxes).
Red /25: 1:35 (1:3,500).
Gold /8: 1:107 (1:10,700).
Platinum 1/1: 1:856 (1:85,600).
Worth knowing
Almost every box has one, but rarely his: at 1:2 packs a box yields two Inception cards on average; Ilia Topuria's IN-26 turns up once every 50 boxes (our estimate).
An Inception Red /25 falls almost four times as often as a Knockout Artists Red (1:35 vs 1:137 packs), but it is split among 100 names instead of 25: for Ilia Topuria's card they end up almost level, 1:3,500 vs 1:3,425. Our count from the official sheet.
His Platinum is as hard as his base Platinum: 1:856 here and 1:855 on the #69, both with 100 names. It is among his 1/1 cards.
How to read this list
1/1 versions on the list: 1. Confirmed sales on record: 27.
“No photo” means the piece is on the checklist and we have not seen it yet.