I picked up the most unusual item awhile back and it sat in my closet until recently when I was looking for some 8x10s I had stored. It is a Fist Bump and Kiss Bump 8x10 autograph. 

Ashlee Evans-Smith is a character, she is part punker and part Conor McGregor and she makes some very interesting Twitter posts that are always fun.  

Topps has released fist bump cards in both MMA and WWE, but they are always expensive, so I went a different route. This was a custom piece that the guy had made to bring to one of the MMA conventions, he has other fighters too but most I didn’t know. I am disappointed that the background is pixelated, but it is a cool discussion piece and will display nicely with the autographed MMA fighting gloves that I have. Now if I just had a man cave where I could display my collection.

Right now, Topps is the only company making MMA cards, they own the UFC license and they have done a stellar job. But, there is more to MMA than UFC, with one competitor being Bellator MMA.

My point is, I would love to see other options for MMA cards. Ryan Bader, my favorite fighter and a PC for me, is currently with Bellator and hasn’t appeared on cardboard since he left the UFC last year.  There are other fighters jumping ship from UFC too, sure some are in the twilight of their careers, but some left because of lack of opportunity to fight higher ranked opponents, money squabbles or just looking for another option. 

While I was watching Bellator 203 this past weekend, I started to think how much I would love to see Leaf, who has released MMA sets previously, come in and get the Bellator license. Look at what Leaf had done with those early sets (2010 Leaf MMA Champions autograph above) and imagine what they could do now. If they were to put out a Leaf Metal Bellator set focused on only a base set and one or two autograph inserts they could make a killing.

Right now, former UFC fighters Ryan Bader and Rory MacDonald are the Light-Heavyweight and Welterweight Champs (respectively). The Women’s Flyweight Champion is Ilima-Lei MacFarlane, she is 8-0-0, scrappy and more charismatic than Ronda Rousey. What I am saying is that the talent is there and while the younger fighters may not be able to carry a set there are fighters like Royce Gracie and Tito Ortiz that are on the roster; plus announcer Big John McCarthy, referee Herb Dean and cutman extraordinaire Stitch Duran all work with Bellator.

Yesterday Ryan Bader announced that he has signed with Bellator MMA after not being able to come to a deal with the UFC. Bader is 15-5 and has gone 7-1 over his last 8 fights but he was not being considered for a title fight so he went elsewhere.

His contract with Bellator is for 6 fights over two years and it is expected that his first fight may well be at Bellator’s next PPV in June for a title shot against Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Phil Davis.

As a fan this means I will get to watch him fight more often because Bellator does not normally do PPV, this one in June is only their second pay per view fight. As a collector this means he will no longer have any cards with 2017 Topps UFC Fire possibly being his last official cards unless he is included in 2017 Topps UFC Chrome which comes out later this year.