Sagat is a shoto and operates much the same as Ken & Ryu. His strength is his powerful high/low Tiger shot game. But Vega is fantastic against it, his jump is high, narrow and fast: ideal for getting around fireballs.

Duck under high fireballs and punish with a C.HK or C.HP from anywhere inside half screen. Block or neutral jump low tiger shots until you’re in range to threaten with a jump in. Look for Sagat to whiff a Tiger Knee and try to throw you after, you can always poke him away as he’s landing, or Scarlet Terror if your reactions are quick enough. His J.HK is good at hitting your usual antiair normals, so stay crouched and Scarlet Terror all his jumps. As long as you are comfortable dancing around his fireball game, he doesn’t have a whole lot else to work with.

Old Sagat: he’s better than New Sagat in every way that matters, so expect most of your Sagat matches to be the Old version. The fight works exactly the same but his uppercut hits harder and the fireballs recover a hair faster. Only jump at him on prediction, never on reaction to a fireball.