Mace Windu vs Yoda

[GSM123]

Who wins?

Round 1: Lightsaber duel
Round 2: Force duel
Round 3: All-out duel

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yoda wins all rounds imo. Though Windu did perform equally well against Palpatine with both Jedi having disarmed him of his Lightsaber, that was mainly due to his Vapaad being the perfect counter to any Dark Side user. Against Yoda, that won't be a factor, not to mention that if we're including Legends continuity, Palpatine threw the fight with Mace in order to convince Anakin the Jedi were really trying to take over according to the RotS novel. Yoda definitely takes the Force duel and all out fight, seeing as how he's every bit as strong in the Force as Palpatine who's displayed far greater force feats than Mace, plus I don't see Shatterpoint as being effective here when Yoda has no noticeable flaws to his fighting style. It's also worth noting that Mace states in the novel that Anakin may be the most powerful Jedi alive, implying things could go either way if Mace were to fight Dooku, whereas Yoda would've definitely beaten the latter on Geonosis had Dooku not retreated. Yoda also defeated Ventress with ease just by motioning with the Force, despite her proving a worthy adversary for Mace.

If we were to factor in prime condition for both fighters, then Young Yoda could potentially stomp in the Force duel depending how you interpret him mentioning in Legends that he could only lift 5 Muntuur stones after passing 700 years old, either saying it took him that long to develop his power or that he was long past his prime by the Clone Wars era.

 

[SSJ3 Gothic]

There's actually a little more discrepancy between the lightsaber pecking order of Yoda, Windu and Dooku. Checking each of their pages on Wookipedia only makes vague statements about one individual being rivalled only by the other two. I think this was largely intentional so as not to diminish any of the standings between them. Due to common sense and basic assumptions, we can certainly say it's a safe bet Yoda still dominates, but Mace does have more of a chance in this category than any of the others, even discounting Vapaad as a factor.

The order should really look something like this Yoda>=Windu=Dooku, since no certainty has ever been put to one of them being the definitive swordsman over the other.

 

[GSM123]

Yoda wins all rounds imo. Though Windu did perform equally well against Palpatine with both Jedi having disarmed him of his Lightsaber, that was mainly due to his Vapaad being the perfect counter to any Dark Side user. Against Yoda, that won't be a factor, not to mention that if we're including Legends continuity, Palpatine threw the fight with Mace in order to convince Anakin the Jedi were really trying to take over according to the RotS novel. Yoda definitely takes the Force duel and all out fight, seeing as how he's every bit as strong in the Force as Palpatine who's displayed far greater force feats than Mace, plus I don't see Shatterpoint as being effective here when Yoda has no noticeable flaws to his fighting style. It's also worth noting that Mace states in the novel that Anakin may be the most powerful Jedi alive, implying things could go either way if Mace were to fight Dooku, whereas Yoda would've definitely beaten the latter on Geonosis had Dooku not retreated. Yoda also defeated Ventress with ease just by motioning with the Force, despite her proving a worthy adversary for Mace.

If we were to factor in prime condition for both fighters, then Young Yoda could potentially stomp in the Force duel depending how you interpret him mentioning in Legends that he could only lift 5 Muntuur stones after passing 700 years old, either saying it took him that long to develop his power or that he was long past his prime by the Clone Wars era.

I don't think Palpatine was holding back against Mace, he was on the ground far before Anakin arrived. Not to mention he didn't really need Mace to turn Anakin, only the idea of stopping Padme from dying was enough to turn him.

And couldn't Mace be talking about Anakin's potential? Anakin was on a stalemate with Obi Wan and was only able to beat Dooku when he used the Dark Side.

 

[Ultimate Cell]

I hate the theory that Palpatine purposely threw the fight just to convince Anakin. George Lucas himself said that Palpatine lost to Mace. And I highly doubt that Palpatine plan included turning himself into a old man ballsack.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The order should really look something like this Yoda>=Windu=Dooku, since no certainty has ever been put to one of them being the definitive swordsman over the other.

Legends-wise, Yoda did come close to defeating a version of Dooku who was far stronger than normal due to being used as a conduit for pure Dark Side energy, so I'd say Yoda > Dooku is pretty solid at least.

It's also worth noting that the fight choreographer for the prequels whom has conversed with Lucas about character abilities stated that Mace is second only to Yoda amongst the Jedi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=328&v=5m2yIAxeBHA
http://web.archive.org/web/20051125042817/http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/bts/production/news20000711b.html

As well as a few Legends sources pointing to Yoda > Mace being pretty solid in Lightsaber combat alone.

"Though it was true that he had slowed slightly in the years that Mace Windu had known him, Yoda's skill with a lightsaber was still second to none on the council." - Darth Maul Shadow Hunter

"To the uninitiated, lightsaber combat can seem like a confusing blur of swipes and blade clashes, but on close examination, the secrets of the Jedi Knights become clear. To understand the combat of these warriors, we must delve into the sacred history of the fabled Seven Forms of Jedi lightsaber combat and look at how these have played out in the Star Wars saga. Only then can we understand the extraordinary combat moves of Yoda, perhaps the greatest lightsaber master the Jedi Order has ever seen." - Insider #62

"Master Windu was also known within the Order for his unusual fighting style, one that he developed after studying the dueling styles of various lightsaber masters. His attacks consisted of relentless, unpredictable blows, like shots from an autoblaster. Master Windu himself remained perfectly balanced and centered. In the history of the Jedi Order, only two opponents ever overcame him in battle. One was Master Yoda, who some said was the Order's true master of lightsaber combat. The other was former Master Dooku, whose own fighting style was archaic, yet stunningly effective." - Power of the Jedi sourcebook

The last one may be considered questionable due to his losses being long before the Clone Wars, though it's still worth noting.

I don't think Palpatine was holding back against Mace, he was on the ground far before Anakin arrived.

In the novel, Anakin saw the last portion of their fight, which also contains a mention of Palpatine being so fast he could probably speedblitz Anakin. Whilst you could say the novel shouldn't be taken into account, it really seems as though it's events were the intention of Lucas seeing as how it properly portrays scenes in the film that come off as poor direction (eg. the novel focusing on how amazingly fast Palpatine was when speedblitzing the council members, whereas the movie makes Agen and Saesee just look incredibly slow).

Not to mention he didn't really need Mace to turn Anakin, only the idea of stopping Padme from dying was enough to turn him.

Anakin was already prepared to turn Palpatine over to the Council and divulged such information to Palpatine, so I doubt Palpatine saw that as enough.

And couldn't Mace be talking about Anakin's potential? Anakin was on a stalemate with Obi Wan and was only able to beat Dooku when he used the Dark Side.

On this part, I'd probably agree with you, given how the novel implies Mace could speedblitz Anakin in a fight. However, Mace's statement did place Anakin as a contender for the title, and certainly wasn't in future tense.
https://imgur.com/RduxnBe

I hate the theory that Palpatine purposely threw the fight just to convince Anakin. George Lucas himself said that Palpatine lost to Mace.

Firstly, a major aspect of Mace defeating Palpatine was his use of Vapaad, the perfect counter to any Dark Side user. The novelisation goes into detail of emphasising this as a major factor, as well as Mace's resolve towards defending the Republic amping up his power even further. Even then, he was fighting only on Palpatine's level and only got the upper hand during the last moments of the duel. Neither of these amps will prove a factor against Yoda.

Secondly, though Word of God is always worthwhile evidence, I have to call into question Lucas' consistency in interviews such as these. For example, it's questionable how much credit we can give it when in a similar case of talking about the Gungans fighting the battle droids, he described it as "the robots fight against the Gungas".
Along with this, it's worth talking about the context of the statement in question:

""Okay, well, this sequence always started out with Mace overpowering Palpatine, and then Palpatine using his powers to try to destroy Mace, and Mace deflecting his rays with his lightsaber. And it always was that Anakin cut the lightsaber out of his hand. But this part where he pretends to lose his power and be weak was something that I added later, 'cause this is, it moved the point where Anakin turns down to this moment right here, and you can see now, that it's very clear that he's, he, he wants him to go on trial so he can pump him for information about how to get these powers."

Here, with this statement being in conjunction with the footage shown during it, it can be seen that the context is purely about the scene from the audience's perspective for the first half, not necessarily an in-universe perspective, before going into character motivations for the second half. He starts off by saying Mace overpowered Palpatine as that's what the audience see, then he mentions the character motivation of Palpatine pretending to have lost his power.

Finally on that point, Lucas has also said that the Palpatine VS Windu debate is open to interpretation, showing his notion of Windu being solidly superior clearly wasn't fully his intent.

"It's one of the fieriest debates of online fan forums: when Palpatine was cornered in his office's giant window-frame, was he really overpowered by Mace? Or was he faking to lure Anakin? Could Mace really have gotten the upper hand on the Sith Lord?

George Lucas is the ultimate keeper of the true answer, and he's not telling... yet, anyway. If you had asked me in the Summer of '03, when the sequence was first shot, I would have had a solid answer. But, if you asked me in the Fall of '04, when the sequence was re-shot, well... for those who want to debate, it's best to know more of the story of how this scene came to be.

This entire sequence changed significantly during postproduction. What we witnessed in Sydney told a different story. Anakin did not earn Mace's trust by ratting out Sidious right away. He did not agonize over his decisions while sitting alone in the Jedi Council chamber. He did not rush in at the last minute to witness a questionable balance of power. Instead, he stayed at Palpatine's side, in the Chancellor's private office, as Mace and his posse of Jedi barged in.

So... with this revised duel, if Sidious threw the fight, it places an awful lot of faith on Anakin's timing ...and he suffered a kicked-in face to boot. For what it's worth to those arguing, I doubt there's anyone who thinks Palpatine's serious when he claims he's too weak. That's obviously a lie. But was the fall into the corner that preceded his pleas for help a lie as well?" - Homing Beacon #139

http://web.archive.org/web/20060323041924/http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/production/beacon139.html

And I highly doubt that Palpatine plan included turning himself into a old man ballsack.

That's Palpatine's true appearance from having overused the Dark Side of the Force, so it's reveal was inevitable to him.

 

[GSM123]

I don't think legends should be taken at value since it's not canon anymore, but the coreograph statement is enough IMO. I also think it makes more sense for Mace Windu's Vapaad > Palpatine than Palpatine purposely holding back.

Still don't buy the Anakin is the strongest though, unless George Lucas is trying to tell me Obi Wan is also the strongest...

@UltimateGokhan Palpatine getting deformed actually fits on his plan very well tbh. He could use his deformation as scars to prove the Jedis tried to kill him, what further increases the idea of the Jedi trying to start a dictatorship.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Still don't buy the Anakin is the strongest though, unless George Lucas is trying to tell me Obi Wan is also the strongest...

It has more to do with Anakin being a candidate for strongest rather than the outright strongest, given Windu only said perhaps.

Also, Obi-Wan only beat Anakin due to his Soresu's defensive mastery being an excellent counter to Anakin's style of fighting, not to mention Anakin's irrationality at that point being a hindrance to him as such allowed Kenobi to predict his tactics easier.

 

[GSM123]

And, of course, the high ground.