The Penn state of mind is focused on retaining a world championship.

Hilo's BJ Penn will not be lacking for motivation when he defends his UFC world title next week against Boston's Kenny Florian.

Penn said several factors are providing fuel, including moving his training camp to California, his performance in his last bout, and a controversial exchange of words with Florian.

The biggest motivating factor is a return to the win column after a devastating loss to Georges St-Pierre in January.

"It's gotta be the previous fight," Penn said during a UFC teleconference yesterday. "It's gotta be getting my butt kicked and wanting to come back and get back to form."

Penn will defend his UFC lightweight world championship against Florian in the main event of the UFC 101: Declaration mixed martial arts card Aug. 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

St-Pierre defeated Penn via fourth-round TKO in a UFC "super fight" in Las Vegas on Jan. 31. That bout was in the welterweight (170 pounds) class, so Penn got to keep his lightweight (155) title.

Penn has a professional record of 13-5-1, and only one of his losses came in a lightweight division bout. Florian is 11-3, and is on a six-fight win streak.

Penn has been training in Southern California for the past two months in preparation for the bout. He said he has not seen his family — including his nine-month-old daughter — for the past three weeks.

"If you love your daughter and you fight, don't hang out with her before the fight," he said. "It does, it makes you feel soft. You want to come home and hug your daughter and kiss her and carry her around and play around with her ... it makes you weak."

Instead, Penn has maintained a strict workout schedule, led by California trainer Marv Marinovich.

"He's just amazing," Penn said. "He really works your balance and your explosion and your speed and your power."

But Penn said he also shortened his training camp this time.

"As far as the (St-Pierre) fight ... I believe I trained too long," he said. "I started training five months for the fight because I was so pumped about it, it was my dream fight. Maybe I burned myself out a little bit."

Penn said training in California should also make it easier for him to adjust to the time difference in Philadelphia.

Although the bout will take place in the "City of Brotherly Love," there will be no love lost between the fighters.

Penn and Florian got into a he said-he said battle of words after Penn's bout with St-Pierre.

Penn claims that Florian sent a text message to author Dave Weintraub — who was writing a book about Penn at the time — before the bout with St-Pierre warning about the possibility of "greasing" by St-Pierre. Weintraub informed the Penn camp, and they told the Nevada State Athletic Commission about it before the bout.

Florian has repeatedly denied texting anything about St-Pierre. During yesterday's teleconference call, Florian said he did talk about greasing with Weintraub, but the fighter he was referring to was Roger Huerta.

"The whole GSP fiasco and (Florian) going out and making me look like a liar was a double whammy," Penn said.

But he later described the texting issue as "past history," and "small stuff."

"What ever we think about it, we're going to get to fight about it on Aug. 8," Penn said. "I don't know how I get caught up in all this (controversial) stuff. I have to laugh it off myself."

Florian is expected to have a large contingent of East Coast fans at the bout.

Penn, though, is hoping to capitalize on a unique opportunity of his own. His cornermen will wear special T-shirts, featuring a Hawaiian crest under the words "Penn State."

NOTES

Kendall Grove of Maui and Shane Nelson of Hilo are scheduled to fight on the undercard of the UFC 101 event. Grove (12-5) will face New York's Ricardo Almeida (10-3) in a 185-pound bout. Nelson (13-3) will face Washington's Aaron Riley (27-11-1) in a 155-pound bout.

UFC 101 will be televised in Hawai'i through pay-per-view. It will start at 4 p.m. (Hawai'i time). Prices vary, depending on the cable/satellite company.