Upper Deck and the Professional Fighters
League announced today a multi-year deal for licensed collectibles
and memorabilia products and exclusive for trading cards.
Collectors will be able to buy, open, collect, and trade their
first PFL card beginning on June 18, 2021.— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani)
June 16, 2021
It appears that fans will be able to collect their favorite
Professional Fighters League fighters.
On Wednesday morning, PFL announced that it had signed a multi-year
deal with Upper Deck for memorabilia products for its athletes and
licensed collectibles, including trading cards. It will be Upper
Deck’s first foray into professional fighting trading cards. The
partnership will include collectibles that feature autographs and
trading cards available in both physical and digital forms.
“Professional Fighters League is excited to partner with Upper Deck
to provide MMA fans with unique collectibles of their favorite
fighters as they work toward their goal of becoming a world
champion,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray, in a press release. “These
will be the first cards of their kind to showcase MMA superstars
and will highlight some of the best moments of our world-class
athletes.”
Some of the names announced include PFL champions like Kayla
Harrison and Ray Cooper
III and promotional newcomers like former
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholders Anthony
Pettis and Fabricio
Werdum, former Bellator
MMA welterweight kingpin Rory
MacDonald, as well as two-time Olympic gold medal and former
boxing champion Claressa
Shields.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with PFL and to offer new and
innovative products to professional fighting fans everywhere,”
added Upper Deck Sports Brand Manager Paul Zickler. “We look
forward to building a long-lasting relationship with the PFL for
years to come.”
Fans can collect the cards starting June 18, 2021, at 9 a.m. PT
through Upper Deck’s patent-pending platform, Upper Deck e-Pack.
The first PFL card will feature Shields’s MMA debut that resulted
in her third-round TKO victory at the expense of Brittney
Elkin at PFL 4. The card with “T-Rex” is part of Upper Deck’s
“Game Dated Moments” program, which offers exclusive cards of top
highlights that collectors can buy on UpperDeckEpack.com. Some
lucky fans will find gold and silver variants of Claressa’s
inaugural GDM randomly inserted into select packs as a bonus.
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC,
PFL and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer,
phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.
The upcoming PFL card will go down at the Ocean
Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on June 17. The main
event will see UFC alums MacDonald (22-6-1, 1-0 PFL) and Gleison
Tibau (35-15, 0-1 PFL) clash in a 170-pound battle. In the
co-main event, PFL 2019 welterweight champion Cooper III (21-7-1,
8-2-1 PFL) will lock horns with Nikolay
Aleksakhin (24-5 1NC, 1-0 1NC PFL). 
