Despite recent troubles with the law, a contentious court case in which he sued his former promoter and the pressures that come from headlining a fight in his home state against a man with a legendary last name, life is good for B.J. Penn.

With the grandiose vision of filling 20,000 seats inside Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium, home for the NFL’s Pro Bowl, K-1 approached Penn about fighting Renzo Gracie (pictures), who, despite a serious downturn in his career over the past four years, still carries with him the stature that colors the first family of mixed martial arts.

Before it’s all said and done, Penn hopes that his surname holds as much weight. And he’s got a vision, very much his own, on how to make that happen.

His is a story of defiance. Of breaking rules and, smartly or foolishly, challenging authority. With B.J. Penn, there is much to discuss, particularly on the eve of his first K-1 main event, which will be carried throughout North America via tape-delayed pay-per-view this Sunday.

Josh Gross: I remember talking to you before you fought Jens Pulver (pictures), which was ages ago, and you said one of the reasons you trained in San Jose with AKA was because the Islands offered so many distractions and there was trouble out there. Was [the incident with the police, in which Penn was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer outside a night club in Waikiki] a situation where you were prophetic, that’s exactly what happened?

B.J. Penn: This is just something that happened. Something that took place. Life is like a box of chocolates. There’s nothing I could do about it.

Gross: Have you felt that way at all since returning to Hawaii or has it been a purely positive thing for you?

Penn: Yeah, purely positive. Back home I don’t have to wait in traffic to go anywhere because the other island, Oahu is just like a regular city. Hilo is like a small town. One minute to get to the gym. One minute to get home. Not like an hour to get to the gym and an hour to home and wasting all that time. But I’m a lot better. I’m a lot happier fighter. I don’t take fighting as serious as I did back then. I just have fun. That’s why if it’s not fun for me I don’t want to even do it. So just having a good time.

Gross: So if it’s not fun for you, there’s no point. What are you current goals? What keeps you fighting?

Penn: My only goal was to get the UFC belt. After that happened, I don’t know, I just fight for fun now. Just to have a good time. I still like fighting. I enjoy it. Everything else is just boring to me. I mean I’m a human being first. I do whatever I want first and fighting comes second to me. I just live my life and have a good time and just have fun.

Gross: You’re fortunate. You grew up in a pretty good financial situation. You didn’t have to worry about much. Did that have a big impact on how you handled the situation with the UFC? You figured, “I’m going to go off and do my own thing because I can do it”?

Penn: No. I always wanted to fight in the UFC. It was just me looking at what K-1 could offer me. They could offer me new fighters to fight with. They could offer me exposure in Japan. They wanted to pay me a bunch of money. And I told the UFC, “I don’t want to hold you guys hostage. I’ll fight for whatever you guys want me to fight for too. Let’s do it both. Look, I got it written in this K-1 contract I can fight in UFC, too. You know what I mean? Let’s do it. I’ll fight in different weights or in each one, you know. And it doesn’t really come down to, like you said, I could live a good life. I don’t fight to live, I live to fight. You know what I mean? I’m not somebody who has to fight to eat a piece of food that night. I’m not a billionaire or something but I got food on the table. I always eat. I’ll never go hungry. But I live to fight because I love to fight. You know what I mean? I’m not forced to do it. It’s just something I love to do and the situation was just good exposure for me in Japan, good exposure for me in the U.S. I was trying to become a worldwide fighter but the UFC cut the neck on me on the U.S. side. So, whatever.