2026 Combat Anthology: On-Card Ink, Ric Flair and Gold Kabooms

Sugar Ray Leonard's Sweet Science Signatures preview gets the setting right. Red gloves, raised guard, ring ropes and a well-worn boxing gym surround the fighter; a broad white panel gives his blue autograph room beneath the photograph. You can enjoy the card as a boxing image before you even get to the signature.

That is a promising introduction to 2026 Panini Combat Anthology, which adds on-card autographs and brings boxing, MMA, pro wrestling and kickboxing into one release. Its Hobby launch is expected November 18, 2026, according to Steel City Collectibles' release schedule. Panini's own product page currently has it coming soon.

Three autograph sets put the signature on the card

Panini's Hobby sell sheet introduces its on-card autograph selection with Sweet Science Signatures, MMA Stars Signatures and Mat Classics Signatures. The pictured subjects are Leonard, Georges St-Pierre and Místico. They share generous autograph space, but the designs give each sport a distinct treatment.

Leonard's card has the most complete sense of place. The ropes and windows establish a working gym, while his bright gloves pull the eye back to his stance. The large Sweet Science lettering divides the photograph from the signature without covering his face. It is a good fit for a boxing collection built around images of fighters at work.

St-Pierre's MMA Stars Signatures takes almost the opposite approach. His monochrome portrait sits against a cracked white background, with enormous black MMA lettering overhead. The blue signature becomes the strongest color on the card. That restraint gives the autograph more visual weight than it would have against a busy rainbow background.

Místico's Mat Classics Signatures is considerably louder: red and gold behind a silver-and-gold mask and elaborate ring attire. The curved set name frames the portrait, and a broad angular panel holds the signature below. The costume supplies most of the spectacle, which is exactly where this particular card should spend its visual attention.

Ric Flair and Julio César Chávez bring two very different kinds of color

Ring Royalty Signatures gives Ric Flair a red-and-gold robe, a yellow outline and a background that looks brushed across textured white paper. The decorative script at the top fits the portrait's theatrical quality. Flair has never been a particularly convincing candidate for visual understatement, and this card wisely makes room for the robe.

Julio César Chávez's Classics Signatures uses a blue-tinted action photograph, red and blue stars, a yellow field and a red burst around the Classics name. It has the punchy simplicity of a fight poster. Against Leonard's more atmospheric gym scene, Chávez's preview offers a much brighter, more graphic approach to a boxing autograph.

The autograph format also differs: the Flair and Chávez previews show signature stickers. The on-card addition belongs to selected autograph sets, rather than every signature in Combat Anthology.

Conor McGregor leads the Gold Kaboom preview

Panini calls Kaboom! ultra-rare, with Hobby-exclusive Gold versions numbered to 10. The sell sheet uses Conor McGregor to illustrate the Gold design: a full-body figure in yellow shorts, oversized lettering and a field of outlined bursts. The fighter remains easy to pick out despite everything happening behind him.

That full-body composition gives Kaboom a different appeal from the autograph portraits. McGregor's stance and shorts become central parts of the card, while the background supplies the insert's familiar comic-book energy. The Gold numbering is specific; Panini has not supplied pack odds in these product materials.

Jake Paul and Dakota Ditcheva show the base parallels

The Base Ring Bell preview catches Jake Paul mid-punch, his white glove and blue waistband cutting across a reflective-looking border. Small bell motifs run around the outside, giving this parallel an obvious connection to the sport without replacing the action photograph.

Dakota Ditcheva's Base KO uses a darker fractured pattern around a cage-side image. Her black PFL gear and the bright blue behind her keep the subject separate from the border. These two previews show how much the parallel treatment can change the surrounding frame while leaving the fight photograph at the center.

Perfect Pairs and Iconic Rivals expand the autograph concept

Panini's product details confirm Perfect Pairs and Iconic Rivals dual autographs, built around allies and adversaries. Those concepts could be especially rewarding here: the release spans different combat disciplines, and a meaningful partnership or rivalry gives two signatures a reason to share one card.

The names paired together will be the important next detail. The current previews do not identify those combinations. Panini also includes Major League Wrestling and Professional Fighters League stars alongside its wider boxing, MMA, pro wrestling and kickboxing subjects, so the eventual checklist will tell us how that broad coverage is distributed.

What comes in a Hobby box

Hobby boxes contain four packs of ten cards, or 40 cards, with averages of two autographs and 20 inserts or parallels combined. Cases contain 12 boxes. The autograph average covers the product's signature selection; it is not a promise of two on-card autographs.

The full 2026 checklist is still to come. For now, Leonard, St-Pierre and Místico make the on-card addition worth following, while Flair and Chávez show that the rest of the autograph lineup has its own visual personality. Leonard's gym portrait is my favorite of the previews: recognizable boxing atmosphere, a strong photograph and enough clean space for the signature to finish the card.