FOUR girls got into a catfight and nobody jumped in to break it up. Instead, everybody cheered them on.

The fight broke out in Zouk on Tuesday when two by two, the girls went in the ring to knock the ponytails out of each other.

And ringside, nightclubbers whooped and yelled them on. The pairs went three two-minute rounds apiece.

It was one of those ah-you-touch-me, no-you-touch-me-first kind of spats between schoolgirls, and e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y accelerated to fisticuffs when Ms Toh rained punches on Ms Teo, who landed a couple back.

Then spectators held their cheers a split second and gasped when Ms Toh drew blood from Ms Teo's nose.

Whoa, blood on the canvas!

Yup, life is tough on Jiak Kim Street when you've gotta whup someone for a bag of sponsored goodies.

SHOUT IT LOUD

After every round, the 'cornerman' would ice, massage the contender and whisper, 'she's tired, she's not using her left' and other such sound advice to cream the opponent.

And then the ringmaster would call on the crowd to shout it loud to determine the winner.

And that's when Singaporeans showed what they're made of.

Chicken, not mettle.

Singaporeans can't decide; cool dudes, stylish chicks, all wusses at making a decision.

It was a draw! And the judges called it that.

The second fight between writer-artist Ashley Chong, 26, and Ms Ann Moey, 24, in sports business, ended in a draw too, again judged on crowd roar.

Where's your bottle, man?

The winner that night was Madonna, artiste/virgin/material girl/kick-boxer. Nah, she wasn't in Zouk in the flesh, just in the loud.

The event night was actually Warner Music's launch of Hard Candy, the original girl power girl's 11th album, her legendary attitude proving yet once again - she's 50 in August - she's still got it, bootie and brawn.

Hard Candy is Madonna in urban hip-hop - in one track she goes 4 Minutes with Justin Timberlake. Probably reduced him to a pond.

Three former finalists of The New Paper New Face were the candy girls, handing out hard and soft candy. Hana Abbas said: 'Better to be a finalist, you go places.'

For a Madonna record launch, kick-box was a kick-ass idea.

The Muay Thai boxers from Storm were all cool with their choice of keep-fit hobby-sport.

Ms Toh pooh-poohed injury to the face, saying: 'No serious injury, we all get some bruises and swells, blue-black marks and some bleeding, but we are prepared for it.'

As for the guys in Zouk, all the men we asked said yes, they love watching girls fight, because it was kinda sexy seeing girls get violent.

One, though, was disappointed.

He said: 'They were too dressed. They should have come out in pointy bras.'

A true Madonna fan, of course.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 2, 2008.