2014 Topps UFC Champions Trading Cards

Product Review

2014 Topps UFC Champions Product Review

Reviewed by Trey Treutel

Good: Five hits per box, overall good photography, larger checklist for set collectors.

Bad: Plain design, sticker autographs, mostly unnumbered hits, thin stock that is prone to chipping.

The Bottom Line: In what has been a market geared mostly to the high end, 2014 Topps UFC Champions is a new mid-level release that includes five hits but still offers something substantial for set collectors. A boring design, cheap card stock and sicker autographs keep it from becoming a breakout hit, but the basic format works and could be great with a few tweaks.

Card Design: 2.5/5.0

One clear positive for the product is the photography. The base set includes a lot of action shots, with many featuring active fighting. The remainder showcase celebratory images for fighters. Only Octagon Greats goes the posed-image route.

When it comes to the card design, there is really a lot of room for improvement. Heavy on gray with white text, the base cards feel flat. One positive is the slight gloss that gives the base design some depth. Although the parallels were not incredibly common or colorful, the slight difference was a nice change. However, the unnumbered Silver parallel is quite hard to differentiate from the base cards.

Gold Champions Predictors are notable parallels as they immediately stand out based on their coloring and background design and also offer a chance at a signed replica UFC championship belt. If the fighter in question is the current champion of their specific fighting class on 12/31/14, the redeemed card is entered for a chance at the signed belt.

Although it is certainly not a new concept in collecting, collectors who enjoy pouring over card backs will find the Twitter handles for most fighters, in addition to basic stats and a short blurb.

The remainder of the product is fairly consistent with the gray border and white text. This continuity would normally be a good thing for brand strength, but it just seemed to further the one-note design. Octagon Greats was the one lone design difference in the box. A posed image and stone background made for a nice and simple insert. Bullet points on the back cover career highlights for each fighter.

Five hits sounds like a good haul, but unnumbered sticker autographs and ambiguous penny-sized relics do not usually excite collectors. Only the Fight Mat Relics made specific reference as to the provenance of the relic found within.

Checklist: 3.75/5.0

With a 200-card base set and several inserts, 2014 Topps UFC Champions offers significant coverage for both male and female fighters. With nearly 50 autograph subjects to pick from, UFC collectors will likely be happy with the variety.

The larger base set may seem like a tough task, but with 200 cards per box it should be fairly easy to make a complete base set with two boxes.

I did not pull any in my box, but the Nickname Variations provide a simple and relevant chase for collectors.

Value: 2.5/5.0

While five hits sounds like good value based on the current $70 to $80 that boxes are commanding, the stickers and small relics of unknown origin make that less appealing and valuable. With very few hits that can actually pay for a box, the value for 2014 Topps UFC Champions falls more to the little things like design and collectibility. Unfortunately, that is the main area where the product comes up short and it feels more more like a low-end release with a few hits added in.

The Fun Factor: 3.25/5.0

The very act of opening a fresh box of cards should be fun. Despite this, I found myself quickly bored of the design and that did take away some of the fun. The large quantity of cards found in each box does offer something to revisit, but most collectors would still prefer quality versus the later. Still, with five hits the excitement is there, and that increases the fun even if nothing big emerges from the packs.

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