collecting habits

[es_19]

i am curious as to how you guys go about collecting MMA/wrestling...

since this market is slowly becoming oversaturated with product like the other 4 main sports, how do you pick and choose? do you only go after autographed items? true "rookie" cards (ie. first issue base/relic/auto/insert)? make base sets? collect even base parallels? i myself stick to mainly autographed cards but will pick up relics or other rarities such as pride fc or k-1 cards.

given the fact that i only knew of a few individuals who collected mma on hobby insider, i was spending a fair amount of time on another forum (strictly mma card based). i've noticed that collectors of mma are a bit more willing to spend money on numbered inserts and parallels that most people would shy away from. i've seen people drop what i would consider outrageous on #/188, #/88 and #/8. is it just me or have you guys been able to make that observation as well?

p.s. what else do you guys collect? auto'd gloves? in person photos with fighters? round 5/hao/jaaks figures (sub question - how do you display them: in the package or loose)?

 

[chadsexington]

Yeah it's interesting what people veer toward in MMA. I've noticed some crazy prices for parallels online, though not the auto and jersey variants outside of the big guns.

Me personally, I don't really put stock in "rookie" cards since I don't know what's designated rookies, or if they are designated as such. I'm an auto collector first and foremost, as I always have been with most sports. I'm not that interested in memorabilia unless there's an auto attached to it unless I'm building a set, and I haven't seen a UFC shirt set worth building yet to be honest.

Outside of that...I'll pick up the odd DVD here and there. I'm not really interested in figures, posters, etc. I like them, but they'd go unappreciated.

 

[gobluesgo]

I am strickly an auto collector. I pick up autos of the fighters I like, and collect mostly autos of the older wrestler I watched growing up.

 

[es_19]

Yeah it's interesting what people veer toward in MMA. I've noticed some crazy prices for parallels online, though not the auto and jersey variants outside of the big guns.

Me personally, I don't really put stock in "rookie" cards since I don't know what's designated rookies, or if they are designated as such. I'm an auto collector first and foremost, as I always have been with most sports. I'm not that interested in memorabilia unless there's an auto attached to it unless I'm building a set, and I haven't seen a UFC shirt set worth building yet to be honest.

Outside of that...I'll pick up the odd DVD here and there. I'm not really interested in figures, posters, etc. I like them, but they'd go unappreciated.

matt, i think the premium pieces #/99 out of knockout had some pretty nifty swatches on there.

 

[chadsexington]

matt, i think the premium pieces #/99 out of knockout had some pretty nifty swatches on there.

Knockout Premium pieces was sweet yeah, but I didn't really like the way the set itself looked...I'd collect a single color jersey set if the layout looked nice enough...no need to all be beauty swatches IMO as long as the layout itself looks nice.

 

[Bebop]

For me I love going out to meet the fighters getting an autograph or having my picture taken with them, usually around a UFC event there are tons of meet and greets and autograph signings around town.

This past weekend alone in Vancouver I was able to meet the likes of Stephan Bonner, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Jake Shields, Matt Serra, Kenny Florian, Britteny Palmer, Mark Hominick, Demian Maia, Mark Munoz, Sam Stout, Rory McDonald and Thiago Alves just to name a few.

Im a big fan of getting autographs at UFC signings as they provide a cool 11 x 9 photo.

At the Toronto Fan Expo I grabbed a pair of the UFC official fight gloves to get signed by Royce Gracie and Chuck Liddell, I got them to sign with a silver sharpie, and they look really sharp with the clean signature.

At the past few events I've grabbed the official signed event poster #/125 signed by all the fighters on the card, The UFC 121 Velasquez/Lesnar and UFC 131 Dos Santos/Carwin poster were only $100 each (but the prices seem to flucuate as the UFC Fight Night Seattle was $150 and the UFC 129 Poster in Toronto was $500). These posters come with a UFC Hologram sticker and you can put them in a poster frame from Michael's and they look sweet.

 

[crowncarrier]

For me I love going out to meet the fighters getting an autograph or having my picture taken with them, usually around a UFC event there are tons of meet and greets and autograph signings around town.

This past weekend alone in Vancouver I was able to meet the likes of Stephan Bonner, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Jake Shields, Matt Serra, Kenny Florian, Britteny Palmer, Mark Hominick, Demian Maia, Mark Munoz, Sam Stout, Rory McDonald and Thiago Alves just to name a few.

Im a big fan of getting autographs at UFC signings as they provide a cool 11 x 9 photo.

At the past few events I've grabbed the official signed event poster #/125 signed by all the fighters on the card, The UFC 121 Velasquez/Lesnar and UFC 131 Dos Santos/Carwin poster were only $100 each (but the prices seem to flucuate as the UFC Fight Night Seattle was $150 and the UFC 129 Poster in Toronto was $500). These posters come with a UFC Hologram sticker and you can put them in a poster frame from Michael's and they look sweet.

That's what I'm after. I have not had a chance to get to any events yet but thats my kind of collecting. I will be meeting up with Stout and Hominick at my charity golf tournament and I will be posting up some pics.

 

[es_19]

nice stuff jon! i prefer to pick up the autos from topps and leaf as well as pride stuff on my end. oh and i also have an army of round 5 figures that i display loose, freed from their plastic prisons because well, they look better that way.

when i was at the ufc expo, i didn't have the patience to line up for 2-3 hrs just to meet the fighters for 1 minute and get an in-person autograph or whatnot. i went ninja mode and got as close as i can and took pictures of them. the only fighter i met was anthony pettis because i was the 1st one in line. he was about to sign something for me but i said no thank you and i proceeded to shake his hand, wish him luck (sadly he lost to guida) and had a picture taken with him. i was pretty happy with that.

the other fighter i met was shogun and i met him at all places, the brazilian jiujitsu world championships at the beginning of the month in long beach, ca. even though i met a bunch of high level bjj practioners whose videos and fights i pore over religiously, the highlight was definitely meeting rua in person. if i was anymore of a stalker, i'd use that picture of him and i as my lock screen photo.