Hey erebody first post but ive beaten ffvii a few times and I think the fight in the game wasnt really all that lop sided, Cloud was infused with jenova cells and so was sephiroth (all tho sephiroth to a much higher degree) being that sephiroth was operating with jenova he had much more magic power and was able to astrally project himself places (my theory being that sephiroth was actually in the north cave the entire game, and was not all that super powerful. He was probably more powerful than cloud but you have to take into account the fact that so were most of the bosses in the game. When I beat the lost number its like level 38 think and i was around 29 not quite a big of a diff but you get my point. That plus omnilash plus clouds materia (if you botherd to get Knights of the round or master materia) plus personal player skills all add up

Cloud has more to fight for. Sephiroth thinks he's at the top of his game, but he has everything to lose and nothing to gain.

Cloud's got the passion to take down a corrupt being in the game to us, but the world to him. He has friends who have his back, and skills and abilities that he knows are not his own, but are the result of his hard work training, and desire to be as good as he can be.

Sephiroth exalts himself, so therefore he is humbled in the end.
Cloud humbles himself, and therefore is exalted in the end.