Frankie Edgar and Marlon Moraes receive BJJ belt promotions from Ricardo Almeida

UFC standouts Frankie Edgar and Marlon Moraes achieved a high point in their martial arts careers this week. Both fighters had their Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt status upgraded by longtime coach Ricardo Almeida.

Former UFC lightweight champ Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) and former WSOF bantamweight titleholder Moraes (20-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) are teammates and fight out of the same gym in New Jersey. They sharpen their grappling at the Almeida Jiu Jitsu Academy, and on Tuesday their many years of effort were rewarded with a belt promotion.

Edgar was granted the first degree on his black belt while Moraes got his black belt after six years as a brown belt. Both fighters shared the moment on social media (via Instagram):

This morning was awesome today @rabjjacademy i received my first degree on my black belt by @ricardoalmeidabjj. Getting promoted along side my teammates is always special! Congrats to @ramazan_kuramagomedov_ @timurvaliev_df @tomdeblass on their promotions and huge congrats to @mmarlonmoraes on his black belt. ??#RABJJ #HomeTeam

A post shared by Frankie Edgar (@frankieedgar) on Jan 9, 2018 at 5:21pm PST

“This morning was awesome today @rabjjacademy I received my first degree on my black belt by @ricardoalmeidabjj. Getting promoted along side my teammates is always special! Congrats to @ramazan_kuramagomedov_ @timurvaliev_df @tomdeblass on their promotions and huge congrats to @mmarlonmoraeson his black belt. ?? #RABJJ #HomeTeam”

Graduacao Faixa Preta RABJJ, grande honra receber a faixa das maos do Professor @ricardoalmeidabjj Muito Obrigado @mottaprimebjj @chavesjj @flavioserafin vocês também fazem parte dessa graduacao, aprendi muito com vocês e sou muito grato pelos ensinamentos Oss

A post shared by Marlon Moraes (@mmarlonmoraes) on Jan 9, 2018 at 11:47am PST

Coach Almeida also recognized the accomplishment by his students (via Instagram):

#hometeam ?? such an honor to have these guys on our mats day in and day out!! Congratulations gentleman! @mmarlonmoraes Congratulations on your Black Belt, 6 years as a Brown Belt and I tried to promote him last year but he wouldn’t accept it. You won’t find a more humble guy!! @frankieedgar Black Belt 1st Degree – our team leader/captain always setting the pace we all try to follow. @tomdeblass Black Belt 3rd Degree – One of our OGs who started when we were still in a racket all court and helped us built the team. @timurvaliev_df Brown Belt -the original Dagzilian, the first brother from Dagestan to come reinforce our team. @ramazan_kuramagomedov_ Purple Belt – The younger Dagzilian and the future!! This kid with 1 year of BJJ training took second at ACB Jiu Jitsu World Championships in Russia @renzograciebjj @mark_henry7 @rabjjacademy @dagestan_fighter #mma #bjj #rabjj .

A post shared by Ricardo Almeida (@ricardoalmeidabjj) on Jan 9, 2018 at 9:33am PST

Edgar gets his promotion just one day after it was announced he will challenge champ Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight belt at UFC 222 on March 3 in Las Vegas. “The Answer” was supposed to fight Holloway at UFC 218 in December, but he suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw from the title fight.

Moraes, on the other hand, is not currently booked for a fight. After dropping his UFC debut to Raphael Assuncao in June, “Magic” closed the year with wins over Aljamain Sterling and John Dodson.

For more on the UFC schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.