Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 3
In Cobra Kai season 3, the late Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) beat John Kreese (Martin Kove) for the third time, thanks to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) as his proxy. At the conclusion of Cobra Kai season 3's finale, "December 19", LaRusso threw hands with Kreese, who also fought his former student, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Daniel could have finished Kreese off, but his daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser), and Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena) stopped him from doing what Mr. Miyagi never would have done.
It could be argued that Kreese hates Mr. Miyagi the most of anyone who has opposed him throughout The Karate Kid/Cobra Kai saga. Cobra Kai season 3's flashbacks established that Kreese's mentor in Vietnam, Captain Turner (Terry Serpico), lied and withheld the fact Kreese's love Betsy (Emily Marie Palmer) died in a car accident, but Kreese got restitution by killing Turner at a POW camp. However, Kreese has never gotten any measure of satisfaction against Mr. Miyagi. Despite their size difference, the diminutive Okinawan sensei humbled Kreese in the opening scene in The Karate Kid Part II when they fought. In The Karate Kid Part III, Miyagi saved Daniel from being assaulted by the Cobra Kai and he easily dispatched Kreese once more before also effortlessly handling John's buddy, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith).
Although Kreese and Silver temporarily disrupted Daniel and Miyagi's relationship in The Karate Kid Part III, the best revenge Kreese has enjoyed against Miyagi was at the start of Cobra Kai season 3 when the LaRussos dealt with the public backlash against Miyagi-Do karate in the wake of the West Valley High brawl that resulted in Miguel hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. As Kreese taunted Daniel LaRusso, the Miyagi name was "dragged through the mud" and he wished he "could see the look on the little bastard's face." But Daniel held his temper and he quickly reminded Kreese, "That little bastard kicked your ass. More than once." Kreese hates that it's true; despite his prowess at karate, Cobra Kai's sensei has never so much as laid a hand on Mr. Miyagi. In physical confrontations, Kreese is 0-2 against Miyagi and it wasn't even close.
In fact, Mr. Miyagi could have killed Kreese in The Karate Kid Part II, but murder is something Daniel's sensei would never do. This is something Daniel learned once again when he returned to Okinawa to reconnect with Mr. Miyagi's spirit in Cobra Kai season 3. Daniel-san also met his old enemy, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), for the first time since The Karate Kid Part II, but the repentant Chozen taught Daniel a secret his sensei never told him about: Miyagi-Do karate can be used to disable an opponent using pressure points to set him up for a killing blow.
In Cobra Kai season 3's finale, Daniel used Miyagi's secret pressure points system to render Kreese helpless, and he would have finished Cobra Kai's founder off had the teenagers not made him come to his senses. LaRusso's fight with Kreese was, in essence, the third encounter between Kreese and Mr. Miyagi and it can be considered Miyagi kicking Kreese's ass yet again.
However, after everything that has transpired since Kreese reemerged in Cobra Kai, particularly in season 3, including sending his students to destroy the LaRussos' home in "December 19," Daniel wasn't going to honk Kreese's nose in mockery like Miyagi did back in 1984 (and as Daniel did to Chozen when he beat him in Okinawa). Daniel-san was on the verge of doing the unthinkable but, if he did kill Kreese, that would have betrayed everything Mr. Miyagi believed in and Kreese would have won a spiritual victory. Instead, Sam and Miguel stopped Daniel from giving in to his worst impulses, which, in effect, preserved Mr. Miyagi's perfect record of beating John Kreese. No matter what Kreese does next in Cobra Kai, he'll never live down his inability to get proper revenge on Mr. Miyagi.