Who will win a saber-toothed or tiger?

Answer 1

Sabertooths were highly specialized to make ambush attacks against large prey animals by using the enlarged upper canines, backed by body weight and muscle, to pierce the neck; their long success attests that they were very good at this. Their bite was very undeveloped compared to extant large felines as they did not really make a biting attack when using the sabers, their jaw muscles were adequate for eating large and thick skinned prey but were not in any way comparable to the highly evolved and immensely powerful bite of a modern tiger. Likewise, sabertooths sacrificed speed, agility, and mobility for raw strength and power with legs that were shorter and much thicker than a tiger, thus placing the sabertooth at a distinct disadvantage as it would have much difficulty using the sabers against the tiger while the tiger could freely employ its primary attack mode of a controlling neck bite accompanied, if needed, by a powerful raking attack with its rear claws. Unless you matched one of the really large sabertooths against the smallest of modern tigers fortune would, as usual, favor the more evolved.