Conor McGregor appears unretired from fighting ... and Justin Gaethje tells TMZ Sports he BADLY wants to be locked in a steel cage with The Notorious.
But, does Conor want to fight him? Gaethje says nah, doubt it.
"[Conor's] a warrior. I know that it would intrigue him for sure. But, I also think his mind would be like, 'no, thank you.'"
"He can't take my leg kicks. If I wanted to wrestle him, I could wrestle him all day. And, I could knock him out. The last thing he needs to be is f**king on his back reaching for the sky and I will, I could do that to him."
Gaethje's coming off a crazy impressive performance ... he starched Edson Barboza -- one of the scariest dudes in the UFC -- with a vicious right hook in the 1st round last weekend.
WASTING NO TIME.#UFCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/E3jhPijLdY
Earlier in the week, JG -- the 5th ranked UFC lightweight -- told us he wanted the Holloway-Poirier winner and then Khabib ... but when he was in the TMZ offices on Thursday, clearly things done changed.
"I wanna fight [Conor]. I wanna fight him in Ireland. I know it's not gonna happen in Ireland, but that's my dream. To go over there and be in that sorta chaos. That's what f**king wakes me up every day."
"I'm going out there. I'm gonna stand. I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna knock him out. If he wants to retire, I can help him on his way out."
Conor-Gaethje would be a sick fight ... both guys have great power in their hands and ain't afraid to stand toe-to-toe and mix it up.
"I just gotta touch him once. Both of us have that skill to where we just gotta touch you 1 time. So, who f**king knows, this is a crazy sport."