Former longtime UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes has been offered a fight against well-known Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Renzo Gracie at UFC 109 in February. News of the possibility of the bout was first reported by AroundTheOctagon.com.

There has been no official word on whether Gracie has signed with the UFC, but he has been deep in negotiations with the promotion as recent as earlier this month. 

UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta first hinted late last month, on his official twitter account, that the promotion is in talks with Renzo Gracie. Rumors that Gracie's first UFC opponent would be Matt Hughes has since swirled around the net.

If the fight with Gracie gets booked, Hughes would be facing his second member of the famed Gracie family, as he previously defeated Renzo's first cousin, Royce Gracie, at UFC 60 in May 2006.

Previous opponents Frank Trigg and Dennis Hallman were also under consideration to face Hughes at UFC 109. Renzo Gracie could be the older, bigger named fighter Hughes is looking for, as the nine-time UFC welterweight champion has said he has no interest in fights with Mike Swick, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and other rising welterweights who have all called him out.

Hughes (43-7) has not fought since defeating Matt Serra at UFC 98 in May. Following the win, he signed a new signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC. He previously suffered back-to-back losses against Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves. Hughes has put together a 16-5 record during his long tenure with the UFC, scoring notable Octagon wins over the likes of Carlos Newton, Hayato Sakurai, BJ Penn, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, Joe Riggs and Georges St. Pierre.

Before coming to the UFC, Hughes competed for other promotions such as Rings and Extreme Challenge. The 11-year veteran of the sport has finished 33 of his 43 career wins and holds other notable career wins over Dave Menne, Akihiro Gono and Joe Doerksen.

Gracie (13-6-1) last fought at EliteXC: "Destiny" in February 2007, where he was awarded a disqualification win over Frank Shamrock. The win was his third straight, with previous wins over Pat Miletich and Carlos Newton.

Gracie has competed for other notable promotions during his 17-year career such as Pride, IFL, MARS and Rings. He has finished 10 of his 13 career wins including seven coming by submission, and holds other notable career wins over the likes of Maurice Smith, Sanae Kikuta and Oleg Taktarov.

The UFC's traditional Super Bowl event, UFC 109, is expected to take place on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas, NV. Other rumored bouts for the event include a middleweight tilt between Dan Miller and Demian Maia as well as the debut of Rolles Gracie, who will take on Mustapha al Turk in heavyweight action.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 109 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!