Starting at this weekend’s UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Barber event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, fighters making their octagon debut will see a change to their Venom fight shorts.
It was announced on Wednesday that fighters making their promotional debut will wear a “debut patch” on their fight gear. The move was made in partnership with Topps trading card company to create unique one-of-a-kind collectibles.
JUST IN: Debut Patches are coming to UFC.UFC athletes will now wear a Debut Patch on their gear for their first fight. After the bout, the patch will go into a 1/1 signed trading card.Andreas "Bane" Gustafsson will be the first athlete in history to wear a UFC Debut Patch. pic.twitter.com/GzmU0UjDjM
— Topps (@Topps) May 28, 2025
“JUST IN: Debut Patches are coming to UFC,” Topps wrote on social media. “UFC athletes will now wear a Debut Patch on their gear for their first fight. After the bout, the patch will go into a 1/1 signed trading card.”
The fight promotion has an exclusive apparel deal with VENOM. The sports gear and apparel company provides in-octagon Fight Kits and Fight Week apparel to competing athletes. The partnership deal was signed in April 2021. Before the exclusive deal, VENOM sponsored over 200 UFC athletes between 2009 and 2015.
The first fighter to display the “debut patch” of their fight gear will be Swedish middleweight Andreas “Bane” Gustafsson (11-2) on the preliminary fight card. Gustaffson earned a spot in the UFC by knocking out Pat Pytlik on Dana White’s Contender Series last August. He takes on UFC veteran Trevin Giles (16-7).
The 34-year-old Gustafsson will make his debut riding a three-fight winning streak. His only two career losses were by majority decision and split decision. Giles will make the walk to the octagon going the opposite direction. He’s lost his last three fights and is in desperate need of a win.
UFC on ESPN 68 is headlined by a women’s flyweight clash between No. 4 ranked Erin Blanchfield and No. 5 ranked Maycee Barber. The two were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 269 in December 2021, but Barber withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.
