Urijah Faber is an edifying account

You could be excused if your reaction to the announcement made in May that Urijah Faber would return to mixed martial arts after a three year hiatus was to bang your head against the nearest solid object available .

What was there to prove? What was there to gain? After all, Faber was out on such a high note – perhaps the highest score for a combat sports athlete. Fighting in front of his beloved hometown, Sacramento's favorite son had Brad Pickett rolled for 15 minutes in a row, basking in the spotlight one last time. From the crowd at the start, the local crowd had filled him with praise and emotion, and Faber had responded in the same way. Like so many grown-ups, he had this last explosion in him, a last moment to say goodbye. It was a perfect storybook.

While many retired fighters eventually collapse, this one seemed to have a solid foundation. Although he was an active and successful fighter, he had the foresight to create and expand his own successful fighting team and to create several companies in and out of his sport. He had a plan that would allow him to move away, to fade into the background.

Yes, we thought, he did it. He left at the right time! It was something to celebrate, if only because the happy ending in the high-level MMA is about as rare as the choking Pillory. They are so unexpected that they sometimes defy belief. Yet Faber had created his magic farewell.

When he decided to return to the UFC, it was a surprise because of the time he had managed to stay away. Many fighters turn around after a few months of sitting on the sidelines, unable to feed or ignore the dependence on competition. But Faber had been away for ages, so long as only one of the 12 fighters currently holding a share of the UFC belt had started their reign at that time. It was almost another era.

The UFC seemed to see it the same way. While the promotion gave him a fair match with another long-time veteran at Pickett for his farewell fight in 2016, this time there was no favor. Ricky Simon was 26 years old and was on the rise, winning eight consecutive bouts. Bettors and punters saw it the same way. Faber opened as a slight underdog and the odds quickly moved away from him. At the time of closing the door of the cage, Simon was the second biggest betting favorite on the map.

We should have known that California Kid would not be the uplifting story. It's not like he's gone after being crushed by the normal. Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz, through Renan Barao, were the losers. The criticism of him did not concern the fact that his chin was gone or that he had slowed down on the trigger, but that his game had stagnated. Its success is mainly due to a powerful right and a game of very opportunistic submission. If you could survive both of these things, you would have a chance to take a broader offensive approach to success.

In beating Simon, Faber did not show us anything exactly again, although, in all fairness, it is difficult to show the improvements in less than 46 seconds. It was, again, a vertical plotter when Simon entered the no man's land that virtually shut the spotlight. It was vintage and punctual and perfect.

Even at age 40, Faber can still do the job if you leave such openings, and this should not surprise you. Over the course of his career, he has earned a reputation for his dedication to health and fitness, staying in shape all year round. He said he never drinks soda, avoids fast foods and rarely has candy. It was never going to be the type to be slow and round overnight.

After defeating a ranked opponent, Faber has an open road ahead of him. Two-time champion Henry Cejudo called for a fight with him and wondered if Faber, already a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, could possibly create another magical moment. While it's crazy to think he can move from retirement to the title in a jiffy, while other two-division contenders are working hard for such an opportunity, this is hardly an option. Faber is the biggest name that the UFC can match with Cejudo, so if the UFC wants to pull it off when it comes back, that's the moment.

Against Cejudo, Faber still faces long difficulties. He scored four goals at the UFC belt at a young age, and Cejudo has the wind in his sails. The flyweight and bantamweight champion has the power and speed and an unwavering desire to win. A Faber victory over this seems incomprehensible. The day before yesterday, a 46-second win was the fastest in his long career. It was the same for a knockout, his first for more than ten years. A second call for Sactown curtains did the same. Yet we are now thinking that we may have overreacted, that this return may not be the worst idea we have ever heard, but that we should perhaps have known that even at age 40 , the Californian can still release some children.