Within the Dragon Ball Universe, a heroic team of fighters, known as the 'Z Fighters' or 'Dragon Team' were those who fought for the common goal of protecting the Earth. With Goku in the lead, Tien, Yamcha, Piccolo, and others followed in this righteous path. Casting their personal lives aside, they never hesitate to fight for the greater good, even if the enemy's power is far greater than their own.
The teams' loyalty to each other is what makes them so strong and when one gets knocked down, you can bet another will be standing there in its place. Even though they have had many flawless victories, there will always be opponents that are much harder to take down. Either the heroes of Earth are downright defeated or just down for the count for the moment, there are times that many thought they would win, but ended up not.
10 Young Goku vs. Master Roshi (aka Jackie Chun)
During the World Martial Arts Tournament, young Goku is paired up against 'Jackie Chun' an alias for Master Roshi, a martial arts master, and hermit, who was later to be his teacher. With a swift kick to the back, Jackie sent Goku careening into the sky. Of course, the seasoned fighter appeared to have won, but moments later, Goku is seen flying back down to the ring, using his Saiyan tail as a propeller. Even though he made it back to the ring, he was technically out of bounds.
9 Young Goku vs. Tien Shinhan
Another match within the World Martial Arts Tournament was against young Goku and Tien, the human and triclops hybrid. With one super move, Goku is sent plummeting into the stage, amongst the rubble he emerges to fight on, but Tien doesn't let down. Even though Goku was nimble, Tien saw past his speed and rained many powerful blows against the child in succession, knocking him unconscious, making for a hard scene to watch.
8 Vegeta vs. Jiren
Interrupting Goku's battle with Jiren during the Tournament of Power, Vegeta turns Super Saiyan Blue and takes him on solo. Goku joins back in, but Vegeta doesn't back down. The Prince of all Saiyans figures out his opponents' moves and lands many serious blows, breaching his defenses. All of the spectators were in shock in what they were witnessing, Vegeta was holding his own and pushing Jiren back.
However, the tables turn and Vegeta is hit back to a point where he is dangerously close to falling off the stage and being disqualified. With little to no strength left, he issues a final blast and with his dignity holding on to a thread, he gives his last bit of energy to Goku as he is knocked out.
7 Trunks vs. Perfect Cell
Future Trunks pushes himself to the limits of Super Saiyan and challenges Perfect Cell one on one. He can hold his own, both using speed unnoticeable to the human eye. At times, they both seem evenly matched, but Cell is indeed 'too perfect' and ultimately bests Trunks in the end. Trunks may have exceeded Cell when it comes to brute strength, but this strength made his moves slower and once Trunks realized this, he surrendered to Cell. In the end, Trunks was no match for his opponents' speed.
6 Vegeta vs. Hit
During the Tournament of Power, Vegeta matches up against Hit, the legendary assassin of Universe 6. Even when in Super Saiyan Blue mode, Hit was able to teleport effortlessly to evade all of Vegeta's attacks as well as land many his own. With the Saiyan's cocky nature, he cannot believe his eyes and continues to push himself to the limit to catch up with Hit, to no avail. Each blow he tries to land comes back to him due to Hit's time skips. Vegeta is left unconscious with one final blow but was still in the match to fight against other opponents and Hit is declared the winner.
5 Vegetto vs. Merged Zamasu
Zamasu, former Supreme Kai Apprentice, becomes clouded with insanity and his original yearning for justice becomes malicious, wanting to rid the Universe of every life form that is not worthy of himself, including the Gods themselves. He then merges with Goku Black and his powers become an immense threat. No match for their opponent's new divine powers, Goku and Vegeta have no choice but to fuse using the potara to become Vegetto, making it a more even battle.
To make themselves even stronger, they turn Super Saiyan Blue and battle the merged Zamasu. His Godly powers were extreme, however, the fusion was not absolute, as it was half-mortal. Rather than being defeated by Vegetto, his form was erased from existence.
4 Goku vs. Perfect Cell
After Cell's battle with Future Trunks, and realizing that Goku has been training to defeat him, he announces the Cell Games, a tournament to showcase his powers against the fighters of Earth. With Cell's unbridled speed and agility, he was indeed a formidable opponent for Goku. With the Saiyan's intensive training, they both seemed to be fairly matched and went blow to blow with one another, even pushing each other to the very edge of the ring on multiple occasions, which didn't matter in the end, since Cell blew the entire ring to dust with one blast. Speed aside, their strength was overwhelming and in a last-ditch effort, Goku sets off a powerful Kame-hame-ha against Cell with point-blank range. However, Cell still stands and in the end, Gohan was the one to ultimately defeat him.
3 Goku & the Z Fighters vs. Android 19
Android 19, Dr. Gero's nineteenth creation, had one sole purpose of killing the one named Goku. Many of the Z Fighters, including Yamcha, Tien, and Piccolo, tried to beat him but to no avail. Using powerful energy-based attacks and limitless stamina, the android continued to fight even after absorbing a powerful Kame-hame-ha attack.
Shortly after this, Goku begins to feel the effects of a foretold 'Heart Virus' that leaves him open to another one of 19's energy absorption attacks as the other fighters look on helplessly. They are ultimately saved by Vegeta, and Goku is hospitalized.
2 Super Saiyan 3 Goku vs. Beerus
While training on King Kai's planet, Goku spars with Beerus, God of Destruction, after turning Super Saiyan 3. Beerus was able to defect all of the Saiyans attacks effortlessly and even though he is impressed with him, he continues to dodge and mock him, without attacking. With a mere flick of his finger, Beerus sends Goku crashing down, draining him of his Super Saiyan power in an instant. If Beerus would have gone all out in this match, Goku wouldn't have stood a chance.
1 Goku & Piccolo vs. Raditz
Raditz, Goku's elder brother, ventures to Earth to seek Goku out to recruit him to join the Frieza Force and to aid in their universal conquest. Upon meeting, there is no happy reunion and Raditz kidnaps infant Gohan in an attempt to achieve Goku's cooperation. However, instead of killing 100 earthlings like Raditz had ordered, Goku seeks Piccolo's aid to defeat the Saiyan Elite in a battle to save his son. Even as a team, they are no match for Raditz and are both severely injured, Goku even suffering broken ribs. Even a Kame-hame-ha was no match for Raditz. They would have lost if it wasn't for Piccolo's trump card Special Beam Cannon attack, combined with Goku's sacrifice by holding the enemy in place, defeating Raditz but in the process, Goku as well.