The struggle between Wolverine and Sabretooth throughout Marvel Comics is seemingly endless and while Wolverine tends to win most fights the two partake in, he wouldn’t be happy to know that one aspect of Sabretooth is much better than even Wolverine’s most powerful variant. The strongest version of Wolverine throughout the multiverse has to be his Age of Apocalypse variant. However, after taking a look into Sabretooth’s Earth-616 backstory, fans learn that the villain’s healing factor is much stronger than the all-powerful Age of Apocalypse Wolverine.
Introduced in Uncanny X-Force #12 by Rick Remender and Marck Brooks, the Age of Apocalypse Wolverine received a massive upgrade. In the arc, Apocalypse was killed by Magneto and Celestials came down to Earth to destroy the world as it seemed to them the population has refused to evolve any further than they already had. In an effort to save the planet, Wolverine allowed himself to be altered by the Celestials and become their bringer of evolution upon the Earth by merging him with Celestial tech, just like Apocalypse centuries before, effectively turning Wolverine into that universe’s new Apocalypse.
Even with the massive boost in power, Wolverine was still missing his left hand, which had been blasted off by Cyclops before the start of Age of Apocalypse Vol. 1, a problem Sabretooth doesn’t share. In X-Men Origins: Sabretooth, fans learn the abusive history the X-Men villain endured, with one aspect of it being Sabretooth chained in his basement by his father. In order to escape, Sabretooth ripped off his own hand and slipped free, then proceeded to butcher his family. A few panels later, Sabretooth’s hand had regrown as if it had never been gone at all.
While Earth-616 Wolverine has shown examples of regrowing missing body parts, not unlike Deadpool, including in a battle against Sabretooth in Classic X-Men #10 where the villain ripped out his throat, which quickly regenerated, his Age of Apocalypse counterpart is evidently without that particular perk. Similarly in the 616 universe, Sabretooth can regrow limbs too as shown in the character’s origin story, which proves his healing factor is superior to Age of Apocalypse Wolverine.
Given the discrepancy in healing factors, Earth-616 Sabretooth vs. Earth-295 Wolverine would be an interesting fight. While the Wolverine variant is powered up by Celestial tech with powers rivaling Apocalypse himself, he evidently never received the power to regrow his lost limb, a power Sabretooth has exhibited. If Sabretooth had the opportunity to rip Wolverine apart, Logan wouldn't be able to recover, potentially giving Sabretooth the win. However, because of the awesome power the Wolverine variant wields, it is highly unlikely Sabretooth would be able to inflict such damage. So, in a one-on-one fight, the Age of Apocalypse Wolverine would more than likely destroy Earth-616 Sabretooth, but when comparing healing factors alone, it is clear that Sabretooth’s is much better.