Fighting Game:Character change

HI
i have recently been working on a 2 player fighting game
but have encountered a problem. I want to make it so that there are two characters to choose from but i dont know how to do that without making the fight over and over again with all the different outcomes for example i would have to make it so there is a fight were player 1=character 2 and player 2=character 1 then iwould have to do
player 1=character 1 and player 2=character 2 etc…
so is there a way i can switch what characters are fighting based on what they chose at the menu?
P.S. i use flash 8
THANKS HEAPS
Drew