I worked as a bouncer at a large (1200-1400 door count every friday night) bar for a couple of years. At the time I had a mohawk, beard, and several facial piercings.
I had 1 intoxicated individual rip an eyebrow piercing off of me in a fight because he thought that would distract me, or something.
Nothing is better than watching the cops place somebody under arrest for assualt while the EMT's are loading them onto a stretcher. (Broken nose, broken jaw, cracked orbital socket.)
A lot can happen if you decide to tie one of your hands up in a fight doing something that isn't going to STOP what the other person is doing.
Edit: Oh, I don't wear a wedding ring because of several different people I know missing part of their left ring finger because of something catching their ring.