Hmmmmm. I guess it's hard to say for this one. I mean it's true that if Saitama just punched the air in front of him, then RIck would be GONE before he'd know what happened. However. . .the stipulations of the fight did not say they are bloodlusted. And anyone who reads the manga knows that Saitama has deliberately
NEVER used lethal force against other humans. So unless we stipulate that this match has Saitama bloodlusted, or unless we stipulate that Saitama goes into the match already knowing Rick's capabilities,
there is no way he would open with a punch powerful enough to kill.
There's actually a very good chance that Saitama would, in fact, take it way, way too easy in the initial opening against Rick, considering that 1. Rick is, by appearance, a seemingly ordinary human; and 2. He's a quite-visibly drunk, scrawny-looking old man. Saitama,
if he even threw a punch at all, would at first throw one with the intention of knocking over a skinny old man, having no way to know that even without gadgets Rick is (probably due to scientific enhancements on himself) at peak-human/wall-level for his attacks and durability.
It is true that Rick, on the other hand, does not hesitate to vaporize ordinary humans with his particle-beam wristwatch (like when he enters the Pentagon in Season 2, Ep. 5). However, those were guys in full body-armor and with guns which they had pointed at him, thus posing an obvious threat.
Rick would be likely to at first underestimate Saitama almost as much as Saitama would underestimate Rick. I mean, Saitama is just a fairly well-muscled but normal-looking bald dude.
So the real question, since both of these opponents are likely to underestimate the other at first, is: Who in this fight would get serious first due to realizing the other's capabilities? I'd argue
Rick, due to his
far greater intelligence and his repeatedly-shown reliance on tactical intellect in combat situations (I could cite an example or two if need be).
In which case Rick would win as the first to get at all serious; as long as he gets a chance to use either the wristwatch or the portal-gun before Saitama realizes what a threat he is, Saitama will die instantly, end of story.
So does anyone else think that this analysis is correct; that due to greater intellect in battle, Rick would be likely to realize his opponent's nature first and would thus claim the victory? Because that's the kind of battle this is,
the kind that goes instantly to whoever makes the first semi-serious move.
Unless someone can point out a major problem with all my above analyses, I believe the conclusion is this:
Rick wins due to his greater intelligence making him the first to realize the true threat posed by the other combatant. At that point, his victory is due to his weapons being ones which negate physical durability. End of match, Saitama dead, Genos and Morty both left standing there in shock (although much less shock and much more quickly recovered-from in Morty's case)
The end.
Btw guys in case you were wondering: In terms of my knowledge of the series I am a HUGE fan of both, I have read and seen ALL the media for both OPM (yes, even the original webcomic) and R&M (yes, even the comics) several times over. So I know the feats and traits of both of these characters as well as any fan is able to
I am a huge fan of Saitama, this is true, even to the point of near Saitama-wankery at times (it's hard NOT to fan-wank Saitama, he's just so damn awesome), but I can see when he's beat either due to superior power or haxx. Against Rick, he
would be beat. The super-science of Rick's universe/multiverse is just too damn HAXX compared to anything in One Punch Man. Rick could probably make someone into a cyborg even stronger than Genos, for example, as easily as most people tie their shoelaces.
