Professional Fighters League Teams Up with Upper Deck for Licensed Collectibles

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.

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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).