But then he got carted around on the shoulders of the audience for such a great fight.
Plus, everyone (even the guy who won) agreed that he was the better fighter.
The truck was unfortunate, but I'd hardly say Goku lost much dignity on that.
If you want to go for an undignified loss, then I'd have to acknowledge the Vegeta fight (he couldn't win it on his own, was left with both legs broken, and had to beg Krillin to spare Vegeta so he'd have another chance to fight—and this time properly beat—Vegeta).
Even then, he accomplished his ultimate goal, stop the Saiyan invasion.
One Strip! One Strip!Hmm... I wonder if there are any non-Goku fights in Dragon Ball that are close and make both combatants look good.
I guess there's #17 vs. Piccolo, but that doesn't really count since it was interrupted before it could come to a proper conclusion.
Gohan vs. Obuni?
No beer?! But if there's no beer, then there's no beef or beans!![]()
Well, Goku did pull that move where he flash stepped towards Krillin and knocked him out with multiple hits while making it look like he just made a funny face at him.
I mean, there was nothing malicious about it, but it was blatant showing off and punking Krillin a little.
One Strip! One Strip!![]()
It wasn't that simple...
It was more like Karrot was trying to match Kriller strike for blow....
But for the opposite reason...
edited 6th Dec '17 5:13:19 PM by randomness4
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Yeah, Goku was holding back in that fight until Krillin demanded that he goes all out, at which point he punked him easily.
...And then it turned out that the "full power" he used against Krillin was only his full tournament power and he goes further still against Tien with his "real battle" power.
Goku has a long tradition of sandbagging is what I'm saying.
Hot take: the best fights in Dragon Ball are 1-v-1s where the two fighters are either at the same level of strength or one of them is holding back to around the other's strength level.
When a 1-v-1 fight is a Curb-Stomp Battle, more often than not, it is boring to me. Neither character is really showing off their skill or talent and the winning character isn't being pushed or challenged in any way. I will never put Goku vs Recoome, Jeice, and Burter, Vegeta vs 19, 18 vs Vegeta, Vegeta vs Cell (either time), Cell vs Trunks, Gohan vs Cell (either half of the battle), or Buuhan vs Vegetto in my Top 10 favorite fights, because there's hardly ever a moment during these fights where there's a back-and-forth between the two as evenly matched fighters.
Some of these fights have utterly fantastic character moments with great writing and satisfying outcomes, but they aren't incredibly entertaining to me, as fights.
It's part of why I like the Buu Saga. Buu tends to holds back against his weaker opponents to have fun and play with them because he likes fighting. He holds back against Vegeta despite being more than 4 times stronger, he holds back against Gotenks and Goku, as indicated by him powering up right before the split, and he even holds back as Super Buu against Gotenks despite being about 8 times more powerful than him. When watching Buu fight, I very rarely got the impression that he was going all-out, and it's part of why Buu vs Basil is so good, despite Basil being utterly and completely outmatched throughout.
It's also partially why I really love the recent stuff in Super. Goku and Vegeta could utterly curbstomp almost all of their opponents just by breaking out their God forms but they don't, because they're Saiyans, and they're entertained by a relatively even fight just as much as I am. Instead, they try to test their limits in their lower forms and experience new abilities and techniques from weaker but still fun warriors that they wouldn't get if they just annihilated everyone as quickly as possible.
Was 18 vs Veggie a complete stomp?
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.It didn't seem like much of a stomp until the end...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.I thought she was toying with him a bit as well though.
I mean, he did start running out of gas, but there was an implication that she could have stomped him much sooner even without that.
One Strip! One Strip!

I dunno, loss by truck isn't really a good way to go.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.