The first UFC On-Demand Trading Cards

The first eTopps Ultimate Fighting Championship cards featured fighters who competed in the historic UFC 100.  They were made available July 13, 2009 for one week, and were sequentially numbered to limited quantities.  The fighters depicted in the 8 cards produced were:

1. Brock Lesnar

2. Georges St-Pierre

3. Dan Henderson

4. Anderson Silva

5. BJ Penn

6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

7. Randy Couture

8. Lyoto Machida

 eTopps was a line of trading cards produced by Topps that were sold directly to the collector via the internet. The cards were offered for a short period of time (usually a week). The quantity sold depended on how many people offered to buy but was limited to a certain maximum.

After a sale, the cards were held in a warehouse until the buyer requests delivery. eTopps cards were designed to be traded online without changing hands except in the virtual sense.

Most collectors never fully accepted the "virtual trading card" concept, also low sales figures and expensive card delivery fees were eTopp’s ultimate downfall.

In January of2012, Topps stopped producing any new eTopps cards; however, collectors still were able to sell and trade the cards on eBay and the eTopps website, and still have their cards delivered to them for a nominal fee. To this day, all eTopps cards that were produced and were never delivered remain in a warehouse in Delaware.  Due to high cost of shipping, and lost

or abandoned portfolios, the actual number of cards in circulation is far less than the numbers stamped on the cards.

In 2016, Topps unveiled Topps Now, a similar on-demand trading card product.

Check out our e-Topps UFC checklist: On Demand | MMA Rookies

e-TOPPS FACTS

By Donnie Cryder

Round 1, UFC’s first ever set, was released February 2009. 5 months prior to Etopps. However, the Round 1 cards base set featured 2 fighters per card. eTopps was the first set to feature the rookies as a non-subset.

Round 2, UFC’s second release was around November 2009 and switched to 1 fighter per base card.

UFC 100   Available Monday, July 13th

Card#1   Brock Lesnar                   999

Card#2   Georges St-Pierre           999

Card#3   Dan Henderson               999

UFC 101    Available Monday, Aug. 10

Card#4   Anderson Silva                            999

Card#5   BJ Penn                                           999

Card#6   Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira     649

UFC 102

Card#7   Randy Couture                839

UFC 104

Card#8   Lyoto Machida                569