I brawled like 5 times... it's extremely boring... mostly because i lack any unarmed damage, so it's all about hitting the enemy 1000 times...

I also find it odd that people consider Khajiits fistfighting to be remotely fair. Surely a rule which states 'no weapons' would include 'no claws'. They're perfectly capable of forming a fist and presumably therefore retracting their claws; the h2h bonus shouldn't apply in brawls.

It is a mini-game and an after thought. It feels like an even easier version of The Witcher. At least in the Witcher I had to time my attacks a little. With this system, you just tap a key to win. I think that is why HtH combat isn't in the game currently is that they really cannot make HtH "fun" or complex. If the game however was a turn based system sure, you can do a lot with it.

Their only hope of having the Brawling system to be "fun" was to go the route Shenmue/Dragon's Lair paved, which is a timing system. Hit the appropriate key at the appropriate time. The more experience you have (Shenmue) the more moves you have, higher your Stamina, more damage your attacks deal in these sequences. Having it as a real time system is just...dumb.

Love a good skyrim tavern dust up, it's a pity they don't have knock out animations like they do with weapon combat, would be great if it ended with either a nose crunching headbutt (male characters), a knee in the jacobs (female characters) or getting thrown headfirst over the bar (male and female)

Although I think you should still be able to block. Thats my one gripe, but dodging and countering works for me