State of UFC card market in 2023?

[AgentCooper]

Only Panini I have besides some blasters I grabbed is a Gane Silver rookie, Shavkhat Silver rookie, and a Jailton Almeida Instant rookie. Basically grabbing new guys rookies that are bound to be champs (with Jones coming back that gets more interesting for Gane). Other than that, all Topps/Leaf/Pride FC. One day I’ll have a true Fedor rookie, but I was able to grab a Fedor/Cro Cop best bout for a great price today. I think Panini way overprinted UFC. The only popular release was first year Prizm, and then it died. The cards look and feel so much cheaper than most of the Topps stuff. 2013 Topps Finest are still the most beautiful cards of all time IMO. Makes way more sense to buy individual cards on eBay than to roll the dice on boxes of Panini these days.

[Brobocop]

Panini and their awful strategy of releasing products with giant checklists and parallels and then asking the MSRP they're asking is what killed it for me. Optic is just sitting on their site at $169. That's probably $100 too much.

[mossoholic]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Panini and their awful strategy of releasing products with giant checklists and parallels and then asking the MSRP they're asking is what killed it for me. Optic is just sitting on their site at $169. That's probably $100 too much.

The MSRP is rarely the problem. It’s the fact every buyer that wants these products has to pay over MSRP because the price manipulators control hobby wax prices. By time prices for new hobby come down singles are worthless. But the stuff you mentioned doesn’t help either.

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Panini and their awful strategy of releasing products with giant checklists and parallels and then asking the MSRP they're asking is what killed it for me. Optic is just sitting on their site at $169. That's probably $100 too much.

Bought a UFC Optic blaster at Target today ($29.95). Fun rip, but hard to tell if the value was there.

[Brobocop]

Steve Ioki just listed a few Miocic cards I need at absurdly high prices. I'll be curious to see if anyone is insane enough to bite. I made offers on both close to the prices they sold for over a year ago when things were hotter and got auto-declined on both.

[Crashingwaves]

Where was this... ebay?

As much as we bash Panini and it would be great if they took notice... they only have a few years left before Fanatics takes over. I really hope they are paying attention in the changes in the hobby.

Regardless, going keep building early Topps and pre-Topps sets... and wont give a crap about graded cards. The graded card craze was another reason the hobby got silly with all new collectors expecting PSA 10s for raw prices when buying and then want a retirement fund when selling. Or grading non rookie worthless base and trying to sell for $$$

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Steve Ioki just listed a few Miocic cards I need at absurdly high prices. I'll be curious to see if anyone is insane enough to bite. I made offers on both close to the prices they sold for over a year ago when things were hotter and got auto-declined on both.

[IronCladLou]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Steve Ioki just listed a few Miocic cards I need at absurdly high prices. I'll be curious to see if anyone is insane enough to bite. I made offers on both close to the prices they sold for over a year ago when things were hotter and got auto-declined on both.

Guess they were not just sitting in sealed wax on shelves! Or he finally cracked and opened his sealed stuff now the card game is done

[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by IronCladLou

Guess they were not just sitting in sealed wax on shelves! Or he finally cracked and opened his sealed stuff now the card game is done

Both of these cards have sold before. I bid $1k on the black but lost out on it when the product first launched. A few golds have sold and I just didn’t have the cash back then to buy them.


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[IronCladLou]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Both of these cards have sold before. I bid $1k on the black but lost out on it when the product first launched. A few golds have sold and I just didn’t have the cash back then to buy them.


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Any others popped up? Or still nothing showing

[rms13]

Originally Posted by sthoemke

Bought a UFC Optic blaster at Target today ($29.95). Fun rip, but hard to tell if the value was there.

I can tell you there is no value in Optic. I sold a /10 that I got in a break for decent money compared to what I paid for the break. But I've been listing a bunch of other Optic on ebay and base cards get no interest regardless of fighter. Ive been able to sell some non numbered color for $1-2 but seems like very little interest unless you are selling numbered or case hits.

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[rms13]

Originally Posted by Crashingwaves

Where was this... ebay?



As much as we bash Panini and it would be great if they took notice... they only have a few years left before Fanatics takes over. I really hope they are paying attention in the changes in the hobby.



Regardless, going keep building early Topps and pre-Topps sets... and wont give a crap about graded cards. The graded card craze was another reason the hobby got silly with all new collectors expecting PSA 10s for raw prices when buying and then want a retirement fund when selling. Or grading non rookie worthless base and trying to sell for $$$

I will say people selling UFC cards on ebay are generally delusional. The prices people have them listed for compared to similar Panini cards from other sports is like 10x.

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[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by rms13

I will say people selling UFC cards on ebay are generally delusional. The prices people have them listed for compared to similar Panini cards from other sports is like 10x.

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Spot on. I want some of these cards but I’m also not that attached to the idea of grossly overpaying for them.


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[Crashingwaves]

I am still shocked ppl even buy the Panini mass production... zillion parallels of silly colored cardboard. I feel like I was played for a fool with the few boxes I have bought.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by Crashingwaves

I am still shocked ppl even buy the Panini mass production... zillion parallels of silly colored cardboard. I feel like I was played for a fool with the few boxes I have bought.

I'll admit that I actually like a lot of Panini cards. Baseball is my main collection and I even buy a good deal of Panini baseball even though it's not licensed which is a deal breaker for a lot of people. I like shiny things

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[BestRCs]

I looked into collecting mma cards. And the volatility and super small market turns me off.

Someone mentioned a few names. Like Rhonda. She got exposed and became super unlikable. Same with Mcgregor. Imagine spending money on them.

Imagine spending on Jon jones. One day a big win the next day another jones self sabotage trip.

And the real legends of the sport, not many people know them.

Wanderlei. Shogun. Sakuraba. Fedor. Frank shamrock. Rutten. Many fans today have no idea who they are. Such a small market I can’t imagine them gaining any traction.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by BestRCs

Wanderlei. Shogun. Sakuraba. Fedor. Frank shamrock. Rutten. Many fans today have no idea who they are. Such a small market I can’t imagine them gaining any traction.

A lot of the "new" fans are the types you'd find on "wall street bets" on Reddit. Young kids that don't really give a damn about the sport, but just act like a fanatic because certain people online are. Even the UFC itself is starting to turn into some awful You-tube celeb shitfest.

[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by BestRCs

I looked into collecting mma cards. And the volatility and super small market turns me off.

Someone mentioned a few names. Like Rhonda. She got exposed and became super unlikable. Same with Mcgregor. Imagine spending money on them.

Imagine spending on Jon jones. One day a big win the next day another jones self sabotage trip.

And the real legends of the sport, not many people know them.

Wanderlei. Shogun. Sakuraba. Fedor. Frank shamrock. Rutten. Many fans today have no idea who they are. Such a small market I can’t imagine them gaining any traction.

Investing in any MMA fighter seems like a bad idea. One loss and you get knocked down the ranks fast and plenty of guys never get another shot. I'd say you collect MMA cards, don't invest in them.

[Joshi City]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Investing in any MMA fighter seems like a bad idea. One loss and you get knocked down the ranks fast and plenty of guys never get another shot. I'd say you collect MMA cards, don't invest in them.

Definitely, I mean you can't buy MMA cards with the idea the fighter will become a popular legend and the value will go up, it has to be some other connection. I collect Rose Namajunas because I like her style and her general energy. Plus she had one of the bigger upsets I watched live and it got a pop out of me. Obviously I want her to win because I like her but if she loses and her cards drop 20% in value it doesn't bother me as its not an investment.

But I really think that's the best way to go about it, the vast majority of fighters have singles that are pretty reasonably priced.

[glen87]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Investing in any MMA fighter seems like a bad idea. One loss and you get knocked down the ranks fast and plenty of guys never get another shot. I'd say you collect MMA cards, don't invest in them.

this.

[BestRCs]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Investing in any MMA fighter seems like a bad idea. One loss and you get knocked down the ranks fast and plenty of guys never get another shot. I'd say you collect MMA cards, don't invest in them.

Totally agree. Kind of hard to convey in text all the points I wanted to hit without writing an essay

While I collect and don’t invest. Especially in mma I’m a little hesitant to pick the high dollar cards just because I don’t want to pick up stuff that’s going to lose value either. The fickleness of the cards, especially at the top I’m sure will affect the rest. Just looking at the overall state of mma cards they’re mostly picture cards in my eyes.

I have my small stash of the guys I like and that it.

[Isaac112]

I started buying prizm blasters late last year. Luckily I got smart early and only bought them from ebay at less than $20/box. However I didn't get anything outside of a chris daukus numbered to 25. I just counted and have purchased 24 boxes. 24...... 1 numbered card and I still haven't completed the 200 base set. So ballpark I had to spend at least 500 after tax and shipping. I'm dissatisfied to put it mildly

[thewild3]

I love UFC and UFC cards when Topps was in on it. Panini UFC cards suck!!!!!!!

[Dereth]

Originally Posted by rms13

Collector base is definitely smaller but I thought it was a rabid base but maybe not so much anymore. I also feel like there isn't as much star power now as their used to be. There are some hype guys like Paddy and Suga. And great Dagestan fighters but I don't think they'll ever have star power of Connor, GSP, Jones, Brock, Rousey or many of the og guys like Iceman, Tito, BJ etc. With that said it's hard to find retail of any sport where I live but recently have seen a lot of UFC Optic blasters sitting on shelves with Hockey that nobody buys

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I liked MMA a lot more when we were still working through styles matchups like Fedor vs. Cro Cop or Liddell vs. Couture.

These days the styles are much more blended together so most fighters just look mostly the same.