Meaning: fighting viciously. Use examples.
Rewrite 1: fighting like in-laws
Rewrite 2: warring like Turks and Kurds
Rewrite 3: fighting like a bout for Last Man Standing
Rewrite 4: scuffling like cats with their tails tied together

Comment: There aren’t a lot of synonyms for “fighting,” so we’re kind of stuck with it. You’ll find more room to work with the warring parties.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:
• Why Clichés Are So Annoying: “Corrente Blog about politics and culture.”

Check out the new alphabetical list of all my cliché rewrites available in the archive list at the right. To search the page using Internet Explorer, just go to “Edit” in the top menu bar, select “Find”, then enter the cliché or a word from it.