Has anyone tried to equip a shield while brawling? Is it acceptable to do so because it's not in the weapon category? If so then do the same rules apply to torches?

I ask this because I fired up Skyrim for the first time in a long time and noticed that my seasoned warrior was near Mor Khazgur which he hadn't visited yet so I stopped to brawl with the chief. The fight started as usual, stripping me of my equipped weapons but the funny thing was that Chief Larak came at me with his shield and proceeded to bash me and mix in a punch or 2 in between...this made it the toughest brawl yet but it seemed fair that he used an iron shield as I was wearing max armor. Even with the fists of steel perk, it took a long time wailing on him to make him kneel and the whole time I was tempted to equip a shield too but was worried it would ruin this glorious brawl....which is why I'm asking if anyone has tried to do so.