Several years back, I was in a pretty hotly contested injunction fight against a small oil company. It was led by the kind of guy you'd expect -- a hothead who was used to always getting his own way. After a half day of hearing, it was obvious that he was going to lose, and we were going to block his project. The judge told us to go into the jury room and talk, based on what had happened so far, and see if we could work out a deal.
I sat in a chair on one side of the room. He was pacing on the other side, with his lawyer. I told him - in a pretty measured way - how this should work out. It meant he was going to have to move his project from the planned location. That pissed him off. He came at me, and it was quite apparent that he intended to throw a punch. And I distinctly remember thinking "I'm going to leave my hands here by my side, so - in front of multiple witnesses - he punches someone who isn't a threat, and didn't even raise his hands. Because then, I WIN." His lawyer ran the same calculus, and ran over there to grab his client and turn him away.
It would have sucked to get punched in the face. But goddammit, I'd have not only won my case on all points for my client, I'd have had a nice high-dollar assault suit to go with it. Letting the bad guy do bad guy shit where everyone can see and no longer deny they're a bad guy is one of the ways you can win big. Wasn't looking forward to the bruised face. But couldn't back away from the opportunity for the big win.