Ilia Topuria E-X #EX-10: 2023 SkyBox Metal Universe Champions
We have catalogued 3 versions of Ilia Topuria's E-X #EX-10, the die-cut acetate insert of 2023 SkyBox Metal Universe Champions, with its two numbered Essential Credentials. 3 have a photo of the actual copy.
Ilia Topuria is #EX-10 of the 50 E-X cards, the acetate insert of 2023 SkyBox Metal Universe Champions, and the only one from MMA: he shares the checklist with Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson (its only boxer) and musicians El-P and Killer Mike. Upper Deck's official checklist tags him *Rookie*.
What it is like: Checklist Insider describes it as the classic '90s brand brought back on acetate with die-cut rainbow foil (a secondary source).
Front: Ilia Topuria in his stance, in black shorts, over iridescent blue foil cut in a curve; his surname running vertically on the left and the E-X logo top right. Per the photo of our copy.
Back: “EX-10”, 5'7", born 21 January 1997 in Halle (Westfalen), Germany, category MMA, and a paragraph: he won his first 13 professional fights, 12 of them by knockout or submission, and only one of those wins went past the second round. Per the photographed back of our copy.
Where it comes from: E-X2000, 1996 basketball
E-X began as SkyBox's own product, 1996-97 E-X2000 Basketball, whose parallel was called Credentials, per Cardboard Connection (a secondary source). It was not in 2022 Metal Universe Champions, per Cardboard Connection: 2023 is its Upper Deck debut, and Ilia Topuria's in it.
It carried on in 2024: that year MMA was represented by Bo Nickal (EX-8), per the official 2024 checklist; in 2026 Metal Universe SE, by Dakota Ditcheva (EX-48), now with Now and Future parallels, per Checklist Insider (secondary). Ilia Topuria does not return.
Which box it comes from and how often
1:15 packs in Hobby and e-Pack, per the official checklist; it does not come in Blaster. With 50 names, Ilia Topuria's turns up on average once every 750 packs: our estimate, with an even spread across the fifty.
A Hobby box (15 packs of 7 cards) holds one E-X on average, per Checklist Insider: the EX-10 turns up in one in every 50 Hobby boxes (our estimate).
Essential Credentials: Now /41 and Then /10
E-X's two numbered parallels follow a rule, visible in the official checklist:
Essential Credentials Now: the print run falls as the card number rises, from /50 for EX-1 to 1/1 for EX-50. Ilia Topuria's is /41.
Essential Credentials Then: the print run is the card number, from 1/1 for EX-1 to /50 for EX-50. Ilia Topuria's is /10.
Now and Then add up to 51 on every number: 41 + 10 on the EX-10. They are random inserts in Hobby and e-Pack, with no published odds.
What gets mixed up
The regular version is listed as “Refractor” in our catalogue: Upper Deck simply calls it E-X, and it is the only unnumbered one.
On the EX-10, the Then is scarcer than the Now (10 copies against 41); on the insert's high numbers it is the other way round.