Who Would Win If Qui-Gon Jinn Fought Yoda?
Ah, the classic versus fight. There are so many powerful characters within Star Wars. Some are adept at using the Force, and some are skilled with certain weapons or forms of combat. With such a variety of characters throughout the Star Wars franchise, fans are sure to come across at least one debate about who would win in a fight against another character. The opponents for this particular discussion are two Jedi Masters: Qui-Gon Jinn and Yoda.
First, we must consider when in the timeline we can pit these two against each other. Sure, we can go across space and time in this hypothetical scenario and ask what would happen if Qui-Gon were to fight a younger Yoda, but we know so little about Yoda's past since it is shrouded in mystery. We are just barely seeing a 600-something-year-old Yoda in the High Republic era. And given that Qui-Gon Jinn dies in 32 BBY, a fight beyond that point would be pointless since, as a Jedi spirit, Jinn would arguably be stronger than the still physically alive Yoda. And after the prequel era, it seems safe to say that Yoda is no longer in a fighting mood, given his claim to Luke that "wars not make one great," and how hard he's taken the failure to defeat Darth Sidious.
So for this match, let's say 32 BBY, prior to The Phantom Menace. In the films, we do not see Yoda's fighting skills until his match against Count Dooku in 22 BBY, during the events of Attack of the Clones. And throughout various stories set during the Clone Wars, we get a good idea of how sneaky, clever, and acrobatic he can be. In canonical content, we also see Yoda use the Force to keep rock giants in their place during the Yoda's Secret War arc of Marvel's 2015 Star Wars comic series. (I am not a huge fan of that story, but let's just use it for the sake of this argument.) Clearly, Yoda is really strong in the Force in this story set within a few years before The Phantom Menace. This contrasts with Attack of the Clones, where it seems exhausting for him to move some sort of metal pillar away from Anakin and Obi-Wan as it falls. Perhaps he has grown a bit weaker by that point, but we have somewhat of an idea of what Yoda is capable of doing in our chosen year.
What about a lightsaber duel? We see that both Qui-Gon and Yoda are very proficient with lightsabers. They can cut down droids left and right. What is interesting to note, however, is that neither Jedi has bested a Sith Lord in a lightsaber match. Qui-Gon died at the hands of Darth Maul, who played dirty by hitting his forehead with his lightsaber hilt. Yoda's duel with his former apprentice turned Sith Darth Tyrannus does not have a proper conclusion since Tyrannus uses the Force to make the aforementioned pillar fall in order to distract Yoda. And we see how Yoda and Sidious go all out in their match, but ultimately, Yoda fails.
What we have to take into account is that Qui-Gon and Yoda would probably not try the dirty tricks that the Sith are known to use. It would probably be a fair fight. Sure, they could go all out and see who can slay the other, but why would they? It would probably be a sparring match. Both are capable of turning to the dark side, but they both have strong resilience against it. Arguably, Qui-Gon is wiser in some ways, given that he knows how to preserve his consciousness in death. Yoda is wise, but sometimes flawed, given that some of his views align with the problematic thinking of the Jedi of this era. In a match, their respective types of wisdom might not significantly change the outcome of this fair fight. So who wins?
It's a draw.
Okay, I can hear the collective groaning, but to be fair, versus matches tend to be a "depending on writer" sort of thing, and they often end in a draw to please both characters' supporters. And realistically, I don't think either Yoda or Qui-Gon would go in with the goal to try to "beat" each other. Given what I know of the characters, I really do think they would end their fight in a draw and shake hands with good sportsmanship. And maybe some sort of lesson is uttered at the end.