After a fight starts, there is no stance but step (footwork). Before the fight start, there is a better way to arrage your body posture.

When I was young, oneday I got into some argument with a guy. The 1st thing that I did was to turn my body 45 degree (so my chest won't exposed 100%) and move back half step (to be outside of his punching range). This way I didn't have to raise my arms to guard my head. That would be too much before a conflict even started.