Combat Sports, especially MMA, have arguably become a very popular sport in today’s world. The fighters are shining bright, and to facilitate a new profit channel, UFC launched its trading cards. And who knew one of the people having a massive collection of it would be an MLB star?

“I have an Ilia rookie number to five,” said Justin Steele on Spinnin Backfist MMA Show. “Yeah, it’s number to five. I have an Ilia gold. It’s numbered to ten. Ilia’s cards are by far the hottest right now, so his are going to be the most valuable that I have in my collection. I got Jon Jones autograph from like 2014… This is a glove signed by Nate Diaz. This is a Khamzat elephant print, which is like a case hit…

I usually buy them straight up, how they are. It’s a lot easier. You don’t end up spending as much money if you’re trying to chase it, just buying the box through stuff. So I usually go that route. Yeah. I got a lot of UFCs by far. My largest part of my collection is UFC cards. Other than Steve Aoki, I probably have the second-largest UFC collection.”

Justin Steele is a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Like Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, who often visits UFC events, Steele is also quite fond of MMA. But his way of being a fan is slightly different. In recent years, trading cards and rare collectibles have risen to become one of the most highly bought items.

To that end, Steele has claimed having Khamzat Chimaev’s elephant print case hit, which is basically an extremely rare trading card inserted by manufacturers at a rate of approximately one per sealed case. As such, the chances of getting such cards are only one in a pack of 10 cards.

As such, the combat sports community has seen Max Holloway investing his money into rare Pokémon trading cards. Likewise, Steele has a similar interest. From the autographs of former fighters to the buzzing trend of UFC trading cards, the Cubs’ pitcher has it all in his collection. However, his collection is not comparatively larger than that of DJ Steve Aoki‘s. And that’s something even Steele admits.

“Maybe not the second most valuable, but I’m probably up there!” wrote Steele on X. “There’s some big dogs in the sector, but from sheer volume of UFC cards, I’m up there! Over 500 in my vault and another thousand or so in raw cards lol.”

Now, Aoki’s collection includes several rare 1-of-1 items, including a 2021 “True” Black Prizm Conor McGregor and premium Khabib Nurmagomedov cards. “1-of-1” items are those that are only one of their kind. As such, they are not manufactured more than once.

The Cubs’ pitcher, who was a part of the MLB All-Star game in 2023, claims to have over a thousand such items in his vault, which is a safe storage. Surely, possessing such collectibles is a new hobby taking over the world. From Aoki to Steele, but who knew even the UFC bossman would have a passion for the same?

When Dana White revealed chasing a $4 million MLB star card

In the world of trading cards, all of them have a certain value. The rarer they are, the more value the card holds. Also, over time, even the value of certain trading cards increases. Surely, this might lead one to consider having possession of such valuables.

Now, UFC CEO Dana White is someone who is no stranger to investing his money and striking profitable deals. One such opportunity was presented to him on a silver platter, but White missed and even regrets it to this day.

“I was in the Middle East for three weeks, and we were talking about the card,” said White to Topps, the New York–based giant known for producing collectibles, trading cards, and entertainment products. “[The vendor] was very confident that I could get the card for four million dollars. And I said, ‘You got a deal. As soon as I land back home, I’ll do it.’

“The day I got home was game seven, they won the World Series, and then the owner of the card completely lost his mind and wanted $10 million for it. I’m out on 10.”

The rare trading card was none other than that of Shohei Ohtani. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher is arguably one of the standout baseball players in the world. To have a rare collectible of him would have been a profitable investment for the future.

But Dana White missed that opportunity. At the same time, Ohtani was playing in the World Series. And with a clinical performance, he won another World Series. Citing that, inflation came into the picture, and the card value of Ohtani went up, for which White had to backtrack.

However, despite that, he still has over a million dollars’ worth of card collection, which he has flaunted time and again. That said, having such a valuable possession is not just an investment; it’s also like a flex, and people like Justin Steele, Steve Aoki, and White love flaunting it.