Justin Gaethje has no doubt he could take out Conor McGregor, but that doesn’t mean he’ll fight him next.

Gaethje (22-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was crowned interim lightweight champion last month when he defeated Tony Ferguson by TKO at UFC 249 and is expected to unify his belt with champ Khabib Nurmagomedov sometime in the fall.

Should he emerge victorious against Nurmagomedov, then Gaethje would be happy to fight McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) after that.

“I think he should wait for the winner of me and Khabib,” Gaethje told ESPN. “If I win, I think he definitely comes back. If Khabib wins, I don’t know. I’m not sure about that. (Conor’s) a legend, man. What he did was legendary status. I’ll never take that away from him. He deserves credit. He’s accomplished so much in this sport. What every fighter wants to attain, he accomplished, so hats off to him. I can’t wait to punch him in the face.”

Gaethje, who has finished 19 of his 22 career fights by knockout, has stopped his last four opponents. He has made major adjustments in the past couple of years and thinks he would drag McGregor into deep waters and finish him if they fought.

“Distance control is the No. 1 factor in any fight,” Gaethje said. “It’s established in the first 30 seconds. It’s not visible, but it’s established, and that would be a huge factor in our fight. Who can control the distance? I think the best thing about me is I can kick the (expletive) out of people, so when they are trying to control distance or maybe they are winning at that, I can kick them in the leg and try to reset that. So I think I would knock him out to be honest.

“I think he’s got about three rounds, and then it’s hell, and he doesn’t want to go to hell, so I think he’s good for now.”