March 17, 2005 Clover Combat Somehow you can't bring yourself to tolerate another St. Patrick's Day in an Irish pub someplace, many miles from Ireland. You don't want to wear green, and you don't want to be pinched either. The thought of it nearly makes you violent. Like, the green man inside you isn't a leprechaun but the Hulk. And there's a place for people like you. Not the county jail, but a cage of another sort. Cage fighting. The no-holds-barred kind of fighting where guys kick, punch, wrestle, and use martial arts to bring their opponent down. No cushy padded boxing gloves. Just a big ring in the shape of an octagon and some hard fellas fixed for fighting. Yeah, it's a bloody sport, as close to bare-knuckle Fight Club-style fighting as you can get, but with some rules. Kicking, yes. Head-butting, biting, scratching, no. The usual fight goes three five-minute rounds -- though the ref might stop it early if too much blood is spilling. Not surprisingly, cage fighting has met with controversy in other countries where it enjoys popularity. And now the controversy has come home. Tonight's St. Patrick's Day Battle of Champions was supposed to rock the The Music Box at Fonda (formerly the Henry Fonda Theater). That is, until the theater pulled out under pressure from the Athletic Commission, which seemed to have a problem with the sport being...well, not exactly legal. But the event's promoter, Darren Dotson, won't let that stop his furious fighters. If he has his way, the battle will rage next Friday, March 25th at Club Soho downtown. Legal or not. More information on this event is available at the UAGF Web site.