Have you ever played Kung Fu Master? I'm doing a remake of that, so the walking animation is more appropriate simply because Bruce will be travelling a fair distance, and there will be times when there are no enemies on-screen for short periods. Bruce will be striding around with a vengeance.
If it was a one-on-one figher, then I'd definitely go for the stance-walk though.
When he stops, I'll actually not throw him right into his stance... I'll have another stance that is a sort of relaxed "ready" stance. When he attacks, then he'll drop into the fighting stance when the move finishes (again, like Kung Fu Master). Also, his stride-width matches his fighting stance, so I can transition from the stance to walking by starting with frame 1.
I've only got 'til the 11th to get this all done.
By the way, thanks for finding those Fei Long sprites, I was looking for them, heh.