Goku’s fight against Vegeta during Dragon Ball Z’s Majin Buu Saga hid a Super Saiyan 3 secret, and it tells a lot about the rivalry between Kakarot and the Saiyan Prince. While Goku vs. Vegeta is arguably the most iconic anime rivalry, Dragon Ball Z only had two canon Goku vs. Vegeta fights. The first happened toward the beginning of the show during the Saiyans Saga, and it set the tone not only for their rivalry but for the entire show. Vegeta would later walk a redemption path, yet his anger towards Goku was never fully gone as proven by the Majin Buu Saga.
Considering that Goku became Super Saiyan before Vegeta and that Gohan became Super Saiyan 2 before everyone else, it was easy to assume that Vegeta would not be one of the strongest characters at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z's Majin Buu Saga – especially now that he was living a peaceful life. However, with the reveal that Gohan had stopped training after the Cell Games, plus with Vegeta being able to achieve Super Saiyan 2 after succumbing to Babidi’s magic, it seemed like the Saiyan Prince was now on par with Gohan and Goku – at least in his Majin Vegeta form.
However, later in the Majin Buu Saga, audiences learn that Goku had already surpassed the Super Saiyan 2 form during his training in the Other World. Goku had unlocked Super Saiyan 3, yet the low energy efficiency of this new Super Saiyan transformation led Goku to choose carefully when he would use it. Still, if Goku really wanted to finish the fight against Majin Vegeta as soon as possible to then take care of the Majin Buu situation, then Goku could have transformed into Super Saiyan 3 and defeated Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta easily. The fact that Goku could have won the fight at any given time and chose not to use his full power shows the sad truth about Vegeta – the Saiyan Prince never had a chance against Goku during that fight.
Goku Vs. Majin Vegeta Defines Their Rivalry
While Goku and Vegeta’s rivalry began way before the Majin Buu Saga and continues to this day, not many scenes define their relationship as well as the Goku vs. Majin Vegeta fight. Vegeta’s pride was hurt since the end of their first fight, and becoming friends with Goku while seeing the “lesser Saiyan” surpassing the powers of the prince made that problem even worse. Vegeta want to prove not only to Goku but also to himself that he was still worthy of being the Prince of the Saiyans, which is why he wanted Goku to take their fight seriously. Vegeta was willing to kill Goku, and while it seemed like Goku was not holding back, the Super Saiyan 3 reveal a few episodes later proved that he wasn’t.
How the Goku vs. Majin Vegeta fight would have ended had Goku gone Super Saiyan 3 is a question that Dragon Ball Z preferred not to answer. While Goku would have undoubtedly won the fight, the result might not have been positive for the rest of the world as Vegeta’s pride would be even more hurt. Goku managed to convince Vegeta that their fight was not important compared to the Majin Buu threat, and while Vegeta’s sacrifice was not able to stop Majin Buu, it at least gave the Z-Fighters the chance to fight another day in Dragon Ball Z.