Goku from Dragon Ball and Saitama from One Punch Man are two of the strongest characters in anime. Goku is a Saiyan, which gives him otherworldly alien powers. It allowed him to max out his power and then continue training to max out at another level again. Saitama is more down-to-earth and gained his immense power through sheer physical training. This training brought Saitama to a level of strength that is unmatched by anyone else in One Punch Man.
But how would they fare in a battle against each other? There are an equal amount of reasons why either fighter could win if they fought each other, from Saitama's good timing to Goku out-training him.
Updated on October 26th, 2021 by Claris Lam: Here are a few more reasons why both legendary anime fighters could win over the other in a battle, two more for each of them than were present in the original list.
14 Saitama: Good Timing
Saitama rarely goes out looking for a fight. He’s usually just going about his daily business, and a monster comes to him. When Garou tries to pick a fight with him while he’s shopping, Saitama backhands him into a garbage can after mistaking him for a mugger. Saitama is great at making these kinds of situations work for him in battle. If he and Goku do not meet on a traditional battlefield, then Saitama has the leg-up in the battle by catching him by surprise.
13 Goku: Dragon Balls
Goku was a consistent recipient of a wish on the collected Dragon Balls. These wishes are often used to bring someone back to life. When he is not the one to collect them, it is usually because Goku died and they need to be used to bring him back to life. However, having them on his side helps Goku out a lot. He could potentially wish for enough power to beat Saitama or, because Goku believes in fairness and hard work to an incredible degree, at least wish for a trainer who can teach him the right skills to beat Saitama.
12 Saitama: Does It For Fun
Saitama is a “hero for fun,” which means he doesn’t have any strong moral compass or reasons for being a hero. This does not mean he is evil, however. He is just not particularly out to save the world and prefers having a good time. Thankfully for Saitama, fighting Goku would qualify as a good time considering Goku's strengths as a possible opponent.
Since Goku would be hard to beat as is, he is exactly the kind of opponent that Saitama is looking for. For the first time, Saitama would be able to go all out in a fight, which no one else got to see, and also give Goku a hard time trying to beat him.
11 Goku: Doesn’t Give Up
It would be against Goku's nature to give up on a battle. Even when he loses a battle, he ends up coming back even stronger so he can win it. Goku has died in battle in the past, and still returned to face the opponent that killed him. To accomplish this, he sought new people to train with, sometimes old enemies, and just continued to get stronger until he finally took out his opponent. Saitama would admire this level of determination, but it might also mean that Goku could defeat him.
10 Saitama: Determination
Saitama’s entire attitude is based on the fact that he wanted to be a hero so he worked incredibly hard to accomplish this. And now that he is a hero, he wants to find challenges that meet his skill level. Goku is probably up there regarding an opponent that would give Saitama a run for his money. But that just means Saitama would fight even harder. If he has to fight an actual battle, instead of it ending in just one punch, it would be making Saitama put in all the effort he has to beat Goku.
9 Goku: Can Fly
Saitama has many skills at his disposal, but almost all of them are about super strength and speed. It’s easy for him to overpower someone in a battle and, in the rare case that his opponent can land a blow, to survive it to get his punch in.
Goku has the same skill set and abilities. However, he also has the added ability of flying. This would change the landscape of a battle between these two incredibly strong characters in Goku’s favor.
8 Saitama: Has Hit His Max
Saitama trained incredibly hard. One of the jokes of the series was that he trained so hard and became so strong that his hair fell out. He does not even shave his head to get it so smooth and shiny. His training has been so successful that he has potentially hit his maximum power, and viewers of the series have only seen him in one altercation in which he couldn’t defeat his opponent in one blow. Following that fight, he was back at it with one punch, showing that he can easily stay at that upper limit.
7 Goku: Super Saiyan
Goku trained constantly to make himself stronger. However, he can also access different levels of power through going Super Saiyan. Since he does not always have to operate at full power, he can conserve energy for when the battle is getting tough.
When other people are starting to get tired and to slow down while fighting a long battle, Goku can suddenly ramp up again by going to that next level of Super Saiyan.
6 Saitama: One Punch
It is difficult to discuss how strong Saitama is without discussing his ability to defeat an enemy in one punch. Saitama faced countless monsters that wiped the floor with other heroes and defeated them without breaking a sweat. No matter how hard Goku trained, however, he never accomplished that feat. It would be hard for Goku to power up enough to take Saitama out if Saitama beat him in one punch, and the ability for Goku to win over Saitama would be potentially out-training him.
5 Goku: Trains Harder
Saitama has a pretty hard training schedule, which involves a ton of push-ups, crunches, squats, and running. However, Goku trained even harder than Saitama did. His training was so extreme that he often left the planet to go find someone to teach him new abilities and get stronger in the process. He was also willing to learn from people who previously beat him in battle, such as his past enemies. Goku’s attitude that he can always get stronger is a pretty difficult one to beat, especially when his opponent is Saitama.
4 Saitama: Can Read Fears & Real Motives With One Look
Not only is Saitama capable of knocking out people with one punch, hence the title of the series he comes from, but he can also read the fears and real motives of others by looking at them.
Considering that he has this ability, he could easily just read Goku's plans with just one look and immediately think of a way to counteract his plans, thus leading to his victory. If Goku does not have enough of a poker face to fool Saitama, Saitama's great perception could lead to Goku's downfall.
3 Goku: Has Multiple Fusions
Goku has multiple fusions that he could use in battle against Saitama. Examples of his fusions include Gogeta, Vegito, and Den-Goku. These fusions would give him the added abilities of his allies, including Vegeta and Dende, and this could help give him the leg-up in battle when fighting someone as tough as Saitama. Since he can also choose between fusing with allies with varying abilities, this could also help throw Saitama off by surprise if he fused with someone that Saitama did not expect. The variety of fusions and allies to fuse with could help Goku win the fight.
2 Saitama: Extremely Accurate
As a fighter who knocks out enemies mostly with just one punch, Saitama is extremely accurate when hitting his foes and taking them down for the count. He rarely ever misses, or else it would take him more than one punch to take down all of his foes. He was even able to turn a rock into a projectile to take out opponents including killing Geryuganshoop with this same ability. Considering Saitama's deadly accuracy, this ultimately ensures that he will land all of his punches on Goku and take him down quickly.
1 Goku: Has Variations Of Kamehameha
Goku is well-known for using the Kamehameha, his signature move. However, he can also use and develop his variations of this same move. Having these variations could help him beat Saitama because they would work in slightly different ways. If Saitama got too used to Goku using the Kamehameha normally, Goku could quickly take out Saitama by using Kamehameha in a different form or version. This could surprise Saitama and allow Goku to go pull off a win if the attack goes through.