John Kavanagh explains why Jose Aldo will lose to Max Holloway at UFC 212

Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh has predicted that Max Holloway will defeat featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 212.

Aldo faces Holloway in a featherweight title unification bout on 3 June, with both fighters' last losses coincidentally coming against McGregor.

The Irishman became featherweight champion after his infamous 13-second knockout of Aldo in December 2015 but never defended his title as he was in pursuit of the lightweight title.

McGregor was eventually stripped of the title in November 2016 as Aldo was promoted to champion after winning the interim title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200.

With the featherweight division in limbo since McGregor's win over Aldo, UFC 212 will get the division back on track as there will finally be an undisputed champion again.

And Kavanagh, who studied both Aldo and Holloway before their fights with McGregor, believes the latter will come out victorious.

"I've said it since Conor fought him: apart from Conor, Max Holloway is the second-best guy at 145 [pounds]," he told The42. "I think Holloway will win convincingly. There are a lot of similarities in both of their styles, in terms of being busy strikers who are used to guys trying to take them down."

"Max is maybe a little bit more dangerous when it comes to submissions. He'll go for guillotines and stuff on takedowns, whereas Aldo is almost exclusively about defending the takedown. I think Max has grown a lot too. Even since Conor fought him he has improved."

Kavanagh believes Aldo fares better against smaller opponents but struggles against taller strike-based opponents such as McGregor while Holloway will be Aldo's tallest opponent ever, standing at 5'11".

"Aldo tends to do better against short, stocky wrestlers," he added. "He seems to have the perfect game for that. I don't know if there's somebody of that style who could possibly beat him. He's almost perfect for that style."

"But here he is again, in against somebody he very rarely faces: a taller, striking-based opponent. We might see Aldo having to struggle and look for takedowns. I actually think that will be Aldo's approach, that he'll try to grapple.

"But I think Holloway will either defend them, make him uncomfortable with submission attempts, or else he'll be able to keep it on the feet and win a decision. I think that's how it'll play out: Holloway by decision."