According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Ce was born in 175 and Ma Chao was born in 176. When the 18th Route Warlord crusaded against Dong Zhuo, Sun Ce was only 16 years old at most, while Ma Chao was 15 years old. Although Sun Ce and Ma Chao didn't go to war until they were 17 years old, Ma Chao still picked the monarch with a gun and captured Mona Lee alive, which is very unusual.
However, at this time, the two people are obviously far from reaching their peak, and it is difficult to compete with the real masters. And even if Sun Ce and Ma Chao reach their peak, they can't compete with Lu Bu. Although Sun Ce is known as the "Little Overlord", there are not many masters he really meets. Only one Taishi Ci is slightly better, and the two are evenly matched.
Besides the draw in Sun Ce, Taishi Ci also drew 30 games with Cheng Pu and 70-80 games with Zhang Liao. It should be said that his performance is only the level of a first-class military commander.
Hua Xiong once killed Zu Mao, who was tied with Cheng Pu, and this time his performance was obviously better than that of Taishi Ci. So, even at its peak, Sun Ce may not be able to beat Hua Xiong, let alone Lu Bu.
Ma Chao is better than Sun Ce. Successively drew with Zhang Fei and Chu Xu, and defeated Yu Ban, Zhang He and Cao Hong. His martial arts can definitely be regarded as first-class in the romance of the Three Kingdoms. You can shoot or kill Hua Xiong.
However, when Ma Chao fought Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei was almost 50 years old, and his physical strength was obviously not at its peak. Even if optimistic, Ma Chao is tied with Zhang Fei at most. In the game between Hulao Pass and Lu Bu, he couldn't beat Lu Bu at most.