2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Hands On

I received my box of UFC Title Shot on May 16 and besides being shorted 2 hits I am very happy with the product. I have actually opened up a hobby box, blaster box and a number of packs/rack packs. After sending in all the required items for my replacement hits (UPC, packs, and receipt) I waited for a response from Topps, which gave a 2-3 week period for the replacement cards. It took just about 2 weeks for the cards to come in and I could not be happier now. I know people rip Topps for their QC issues but at least they do have a decent turnaround time for fixing the problems.

The base set is beautiful, most of the cards show up close action shots and put you right in to the action. Collation was perfect, I pulled 127/150 cards (85% completion) plus no doubles. I pulled an additional 24 parallels (22 Gold and 2 Onyx). My favorite base card is the Cain Velasquez; you may recognize the man face down on the receiving end of Velasquez’s blows as former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. This photo is from UFC 121 seconds before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight and hand the Heavyweight belt to Velasquez.

In the box I pulled the Forrest Griffin UFC 106 relic card. This fight was a split decision win over Tito Ortiz. Griffin is an old school fighter who has been around MMA for 10 years now with an 18-6 record, he has slowed down significantly in recent years only fighting once since this UFC 106 match in November 2009. I think his 5-4 record from 2006-2009 might be a sign that it is time to retire from MMA but this past February he did beat Rich Franklin at UFC 126 so he may still have a bit left in the tank.

Nate Marquardt is another old school fighter, he has been fighting MMA since 1999 and is 31-10-2 and at 32 years old he still has a few years left of fighting ahead of him. He is currently ranked in the Top 12 Middleweights and is scheduled to fight a serious up and coming contender in Rick Story on June 26^th. I did not realize until tonight that I pulled the Diamond 1/1 version, talk about a pleasant surprise. This is actually my first real 1/1 card.

 I did not realize that the replacement cards were going to be sent in a 5x7 envelope marked only with an address. There was very little packaging around the cards only a couple of blank Masterpiece canvas cards around the smaller envelopes inside that contained the replacement cards. I actually thought that this was some cards I had bought on eBay not the replacement cards from Topps. I let my son open the thicker envelope while I opened the thinner envelope. 

 My replacement autograph card was a Jared Hamman 1^st Autograph card. Hamman is a little known fighter who just got some recent time in UFC going 1-2. He is better known for his time in EliteXC, IFC and Strike Force where he is a significantly better 11-1 in 2 years.

Meanwhile my son opens the relic replacement envelope and pulls out “Some guy with a weird name I can’t pronounce” (His words not mine) and proceeds to hand me this cool Georges St-Pierre UFC 100 relic card. Georges St-Pierre is by far the best fighter in the UFC right now (Maybe all-time) and easily the best fighter pound for pound in all MMA. He has it all; intelligence, control, speed, stamina, coordination and strength and according to a friend of mine “He is sooooo cute” (Her words not mine). I am a bit surprised that Topps chose this image to use on the card where Thiago Alves has GSP in a guillotine choke hold. GSP went on to win the title defense by unanimous decision.

 A random selection of the other insert cards that I pulled from the hobby box:

Legacy:

Contenders:

Champions Chronology:

Top 10 Title Fights:

Disappointment

Today I received my box of Topps UFC Title Shot from Dave & Adam's Card World that I bought on pre-sale last March. I have been waiting patiently as the product got delayed a week and then once it was released I had to wait longer when UPS screwed up the shipment from the original 3 day scheduled delivery to finally delivering it 7 days later but I just opened the box and ended up getting shorted not just 1 hit but 2 hits. I only got 1 autograph and 1 memorabilia card instead of the guaranteed 2 autos and 2 memorabilia cards.

 I am holding on to everything and just emailed Topps' Customer Service. Hopefully this can be straightened out pretty quick.

I will post up what I did get pretty soon.

Random Blaster Box- 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot

Back in March I did a pre-sell for a box of Topps UFC Title Shot, which at the time was scheduled to be released on May 6^th. The product was delayed a few days, until May 11^th, but no big deal. On May 9^th I got an email from Dave and Adam’s Card World saying my purchase has been shipped and was expected to be received on the 12^th. The 12^th has since come and gone and no box, according to UPS I am now looking at a May 16^th delivery date.

 So while I wait for my box to finally get here I saw some UFC Title Shot blasters sitting on the shelf at Wal-Mart on Friday night so I grabbed up a box just to keep me satisfied until Monday. Each blaster comes with 5 packs, 6 cards a pack, plus a Manufactured Patch.

The base cards are nice action shots with a full-bleed image of the fighter along with the fighter’s name, weight class and league (UFC, WEC, etc.). The design is more of what you would expect from Upper Deck but Topps uses it well and is actually nice when used for MMA style action shots. Each pack also include a Gold parallel which is the same as the base card but all the text is in gold along with a gold graphic along the side border. The backs have the fighter’s name, basic information and a short write up about the fighter.

The inserts that I pulled include a Legacy insert, Rich Franklin, and it reminds me of the Fleer sets of the late 80s. The Legacy insert checklist consists of 26 former and current UFC Champions.

 

 The Contenders set is based on the Topps Finest sets with a glossy coating and design. The Contenders checklist has 25 fighters who have proven their worth and have the potential to be a title fighter. I pulled Brian Stann who is 10-3 in 5 years of fighting. He is scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago at the end of the month.

 I know a lot of people do not like manufactured patches but in some cases I think they are a nice addition to a product. I think this is one of those cases. Creating a flag patch for the fighters is cool because MMA fighters are from around the world and this is a nice way to represent the home of the different fighters. We have seen similar ideas like this before, Leaf MMA included the National Pride autographs in the International Release which has seemed to go over pretty well with collectors. I pulled a Michael Bisping UK patch, a fighter I have followed since he appeared on The Ultimate Fighter in 2006.

2011 Topps UFC Title Shot

Schedule Release Date: May 2011
Box Configuration: 14 cards per pack/ 12 packs per box
SRP: No price yet

Box Break:
1 Autograph card
1 Autograph Memorabilia card
2 Additional Memorabilia cards

My Thoughts:
Topps continues to build on their UFC line with the upcoming 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot scheduled for an early May 2011 release date. Each box contains 12 packs and there are 14 cards per pack plus 1 auto, 1 auto-relic and 2 additional relic cards. Previous UFC releases ran around $100/box so I expect a similar price point with the newest release.

Topps knows how to design a UFC product; the base cards are clean and actually remind me of previous Upper Deck baseball releases. The inserts give collectors what they want with autographs and relics and offer a variety of design styles. In an interesting move Topps created the Title Belt Plate insert where the cards contain an actual miniature replica of the title belt won by the fighter. With this UFC set there are also parallels; Onyx/Black #/88, Red #/8 and Diamond 1/1.



Pros:
Great checklist for the base set, autograph and memorabilia inserts including Liddell, Couture, Silva, Ortiz, Lesnar and GSP

The Title Belt Plate cards look very cool and you can pull a 1/1 parallel version

The base set reminds me of the older Upper Deck baseball sets, clean designs focusing on the athlete


Cons:
Unknown price point

Sticker autographs

Some autograph card designs are plain while others are over designed

Rating:

Without knowing the price point I will give this set a solid 4 rating. A decent price can increase that rating to at least 4 ½.

The only downside that I see is the use of stickers on some inserts while other autographs appear to be on-card/on-relic. I understand UFC fighters train all year and will usually fight at least twice a year but they often have some significant time off and Topps should easily be able to get the cards to the fighters to sign on-card. I don’t think it would be a logistical nightmare to organize card signings for 50 fighters.