Known for his grappling and submission abilities, Raul Castillo is a BJJ fighter currently training and coaching out of the Half Moon Bay Mixed Martial Arts Centre located in California. Originally trained under Joao Pierini, a black belt himself under the very well respected 9th degree Helio Gracie red belt - Grand Master Pedro Hemeterio, Castillo would eventually earn his black belt in only five years and win countless amateur jiu jitsu tournaments before turning his attention to mixed martial arts.

A grappler first and foremost, Castillo actively looks to get the fight to the ground displaying good trips, slams, a quick double leg and decent overall wrestling abilities. Castillo is not an elite wrestler by any stretch and improving his takedowns would greatly compliment his BJJ skills as he is a slick grappler who possesses good ground skills. Castillo has a very active submission game and is constantly transitioning between submission attempts on the ground looking for the finish. With the majority of his wins coming via TKO Castillo also possesses an active ground and pound game to compliment those BJJ skills, as he looks to throws heavy punches on the ground from all positions. Still a little unrefined, Castillo will need to work on his defensive guard skills as he has been susceptible to a strong ground and pound attack (see bout with Eric Lawson), but he should continue to sharpen up his overall ground skills as he gains experience. Very aggressive on the ground, Castillo is always looking to set up a finish one way or the other and overall displays good potential with his grappling game.

Given how early he is in his career and his considerable grappling background, it's not too surprising that Castillo's striking game remains a bit of a question mark. What is known is that while he is not hesitant to engage in the standup, his overall striking is not nearly as refined as his ground skills and he will need to continue working on his defense and overall technical striking abilities. However, Castillo has shown he has a tremendous heart and will not quit even when he's hurt as he showed in his bout with Strikeforce veteran Eric Lawson, in which Castillo was dropped and badly hurt just moments into the opening round but maintained his composure and came back to score a well earned TKO victory. With martial arts playing a major role throughout Castillo's life he appears very committed to both his MMA career and running his school, but what effect those obligations will have on his fighting career remain to be seen as he has fought very infrequently over the past three years.