In a sport as brutal as mixed martial arts, it's inevitable that, regardless of how great or tough the fighter, adversity will rear its head at some point along the journey.
Whether in the form of successive defeats, injury, a breakdown in the training environment, or even the parting of ways with a coach, it's how the athlete emerges out the other side that offers a true glimpse into their psyche.
For New Zealand's Kai Kara-France, the challenges were two-fold. After reaching the heights of an interim title fight against Brandon Moreno, when the Kiwi suffered a TKO loss after a devastating kick to the body from the Mexican, Kara-France then lost a split-decision to Amir Albazi.
But there was a bigger hit to come, one that came in the form of a serious bout of concussion.
"I wouldn't say scary, but it was definitely a big learning curve and it just gave me a bit of time to reflect, to sit with what was going on in my life and not force things," Kara-France told ESPN ahead of his flyweight showdown with Australia's Steve Erceg at UFC 305.
"And it's a great way of seeing what the next five to 10 years look like instead of being so one-track minded and just having to fight and being so immersed in what we're doing. Removing yourself from that, not having the pressure of a timeframe of when you have to be back, just let those things go naturally."
The seriousness of his condition wasn't lost on Kara-France. Fortunately, he had taken up a position on the Warriors National Rugby League team's coaching staff and could access resources he said weren't so readily available in his sport.
"I had so much help to lean on when I was going through that injury because the pathway back to sport; it's a grey area in fighting because we don't have the resources to lean on," he said. "But I worked with the Warriors, so I used that as a guide to help me. So I was working with all their neurologists, their concussion specialists, they're there to save you from yourself.
"We've got to be so tough and brush it off like 'you're going to be fine' but you actually need someone to save you from yourself and pull you back a bit. So I was doing other stuff, I was doing the Warriors preseason, doing all their conditioning, still coaching and training with them but not doing the live rounds.
"In the gym, I was just doing the technique classes, nothing too crazy, and slowly building back everything that's involved in our sport; you don't realise how full on it is until you build all those skills again."
While Kara-France acknowledges the experience was a learning curve, even frustrating at times, it did allow him to be a true family man. With his second son arriving at the same time as the bout of concussion, the silver lining was extra time at home, the ability to do daycare drop-offs and pick-ups -- essentially immerse himself in a life that is not possible when you are competing at the elite level at the UFC.
But, as they say, absence also makes the heart grow fonder.
"When you take time away from something that you love and the fire's not burning, then maybe that's a sign to do something else. But if it is burning when you have taken your time away; I've got [many] more years to give [to MMA] so I'm excited," Kara-France told ESPN.
"I've been working really hard in the gym and our team at City Kickboxing, we've been upgrading the software in the system that we've been using, and it's definitely been a massive shift in what our attention should be on.
"It's an old-school mentality that our coaches have, that we just work hard and we do everything and overprepare, but sometimes maybe that might hurt us in our fight because we're coming in too hot, and maybe we need to pull back on a few things. So that's been a great learning, 'less is more', something I've learned at the Warriors."
Another huge asset for Kara-France in his comeback has been the fact that City Kickboxing's biggest star, Israel Adesanya, has been going through a similar experience. While concussion has not been an issue for the former middleweight champion -- who headlines UFC 305 in an eagerly-anticipated title showdown with Dricus du Plessis -- the fact Adesanya was also working his way back from some time off also helped spur Kara-France on.
"It's a great place to be, sharing the same card as Issy, we've done a lot of cards together, so it's pretty common for us to share fight week and for us to grind together in the camps," Kara-France said. "I love the energy that he brings, because when you've got a world champion next to you it only makes me want to work harder and I feed off that.
"I feed off all the energy from my teammates, my coaches. And everyone's been there before, that is what is so comforting when we make the walkout for our fights, our coaches have seen it all and we've been in these positions before, it's kind of like déjà vu, here we go again, this is what we do best."
While Kara-France has been out of the spotlight, Erceg has emerged as the flyweight star from the small corner of the world that covers Australia and New Zealand.
But "small" is no way to describe the contribution fighters from this part of the world have made to the UFC, nor to define two flyweight competitors who have got close enough to smell the belt, but have come up short in a bid to take it.
Kara-France was certainly impressed by what he saw from Erceg -- who will fight in front of his hometown crowd in Perth -- when the Australian lost to flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in Rio di Janeiro via unanimous decision in early May.
"Steve's done really well in his short time of being in the UFC, he did well in his last fight, taking Pantoja all the way to a decision and it could have gone either way," Kara-France told ESPN.
"He's a great challenger and I want to fight the guys who have just fought for the belt. That shows that if I take them out, when I take them out, it puts me right back in the mix and it puts me right back in the conversation for a title shot as well.
"He's pretty well-rounded, quite tall, he's got good distance management and scramble, good striking, he knows how to use all his tools. But I've got the experience; he grew up watching me as an amateur and I was a pro, he saw my reign in the UFC and now he's staring across at me in the Octagon."
The key for Kara-France then these days is balance. At home, in his role with the Warriors and, of course, when he is slugging it out in City Kickboxing's Auckland gym, the Kiwi believes he has unlocked the secret that can fire him back toward his dream of becoming the UFC flyweight champion.
And that starts with a win on his return to the Octagon on Sunday afternoon AEST [Saturday night ET].
"Obviously there's no bad blood, we both respect each other. We shook each other's hands at the [launch] face-off [in July], had a chat, but when it comes to fight night there's a switch," Kara-France said. "You're tapping into a different energy source.
"And I don't feel like it will be hostile territory with me making a walkout in Perth because there are going to be a lot of Kiwis there, so I'm just ready to tap in and make a massive statement, take out the hometown boy. I can see this fight finishing by knockout.
"I'm just that confident in the preparation that we're doing at City Kickboxing, the work that I've been doing over the last year. Just getting back to my home, which is back in that cage, just feeling calm, comfortable; visualizing that walkout, visualizing whoever is here announcing the fights whether it's Bruce Buffer or whoever, and then going out there and touching gloves and just going for it."