Somewhere, somehow, someone decided the proceeds of extreme violence from willing victims, would be best sent to violence's unwilling victims.
In the same way SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) would be unlikely to accept funds from a university beer-fest, Women's Refuge was wrong to accept this money.
While the refuge may benefit financially, the suggestion the violent plague affecting many women across the province will benefit in any other way, is ludicrous.
I accept that the depiction of violence doesn't necessarily mean the promotion of violence but, in this case, the relationship between benefactor and beneficiary is, at best, insensitive.
An earlier media report labelled the issue "ironic", but that's an equivocal term and implies the situation happened only by chance.
While it was a noble gesture from organiser Jerry Sargeant, if not a move to distance the sport from the Neanderthal stereotype many associate with it, the refuge has forgotten that cage fighting simply has too much in common with those it's sheltering.
I wished I could have been there Saturday. But I'm in the privileged position in that any stinging straight-rights to the nose I've had, were consensual.
The authorities at Women's Refuge should have scanned Saturday's crowds and noted the absence of anyone they knew. I doubt there was a single victim of domestic violence, cheering from the front rows.
It's a sport where the "merciless" objective is to impose yourself physically. It employs the use of stalking, choking, "ground-and-pound" and submission holds - techniques well known to those hiding at refuges as we speak.
In their ring, there's no merciful referee to stop the fight.
