A Story Of Community: How A Group Of MMA Fans Helped This UFC Fighter’s Dad
As some of the most passionate, opinionated, and divisive sports fans on the planet, it’s hardly a secret that MMA fans aren’t always the most friendly towards one another.
That’s understandable given their heated discussions most often revolve around a debate on whether one man or woman would defeat another in unarmed combat inside a cage, but unfortunately most online MMA forums don’t necessarily embody the true respect of martial arts, to put it lightly.
However, that wasn’t the case this Holiday Season, when a group of diligent, knowledgeable, and downright generous fans decided to use their unique capabilities and networking to make Christmas a lot brighter for the father of one UFC fighter.
It all started in mid-December, when Rick Clarke, father of Canadian lightweight Mitch Clarke, who is probably most well known for submitting top contender Al Iaquinta at UFC 173, was looking for a unique collectible of his son that could only be owned by one person.
And he found what was most likely the only place he could find the one-of-a-kind item he was seeking.
Although it’s a still-developing hobby compared to other sports, fans collect, sell, buy, and trade MMA cards just like other collectors would baseball or football cards. Clarke was looking for a full set of his son Mitch’s rookie year MMA cards, so he contacted a Facebook group that focused on finding rarities just like this. Sounds easy enough, but Mitch’s cards, which debuted in a set called 2014 Topps UFC Bloodlines, came in six various versions of the same card, with the rarest versions numbered down to the totally unique – and by far most valuable – “1/1” version.
It was understandably the only card that Rick Clarke needed to commemorate his son’s first appearance on Topps cards, and a few passionate fans quickly responded to Rick’s request for help to find this item. A longtime collector and seller named Brent Fuller implored his fellow fans to help Clarke find it.
The members of the group immediately went to work finding the timeline of the card with Paul Arnold tracking down the auction on eBay, Ivy Halloran finding out who had bought it, and finally Eric Larson tracking down the owner to negotiate a deal for this extremely rare collectible.
Larson, an avid and highly knowledgeable collector who’s become known as a sort of ‘MMA Santa Claus,’ said he didn’t want Rick Clarke to have to buy Mitch’s one-of-a-kind card; he instead wanted to get it for him. In order to do so, he traded a much older and more valuable autographed card from 2010 in order to make Rick able to celebrate his son’s UFC career with a full set of his debut card.
The card was found, traded for, and amazingly sent on its way to Rick up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where Clarke’s set of his son’s Octagon debut was finally complete.
Not surprisingly, the elder Clarke soon wrote that he was incredibly grateful to the group, who took their time and effort to find him something there is only one of on short notice during the Holidays, making an ‘old man’ a little ‘less grumpy’ in a series of posts on the Ultimate UFC Trading Card Group:
“Thanks so much to all of you. Humbled and appreciative! You guys ROCK! I really am at a loss for words. Thank you guys so much. I’m your guys’ new biggest fan! You guys made an old man a little less grumpy this Christmas! It’s a miracle!”
Clarke also posted the following with a photo of his completed set, thanking Mr. Larson for his kindness in getting this improbable deal done in short order:
“Mission complete. Big shoutout to Eric Larson for putting the final piece together. I am humbled by your kindness and generosity Mr. Larson. Much respect.”
Whether you’ve ever been a sports fan, rooted for the fights or for a loved one at any sporting event, collected cards, or just plain helped someone out, it’s important to realize that there are still people, although too rare, who want to help out someone other than themselves, and this group did it with incredible respect during a time when it’s too easy to see people mindlessly hating on one another online for seemingly no reason.
It’s true that MMA fans may get a bad rap and stereotyped for their supposedly aggressive ways. But this story goes a long way to prove that you can’t judge a book by its cover, as these fans were nothing less than compassionate, intelligent, and generous as they gave up their time and even their own possessions to help the father of one UFC fighter’s Christmas end up a little better last year.
And that, fight fans, is what the Holidays are all about.
