Currently coaching alongside UFC veteran Alberto Crane at Legacy Mixed Martial Arts, Romulo Barral is one of the top grappling competitors on the planet and an up and coming fighter in the sport of MMA. A BJJ prodigy, Barral only began training in jiu jitsu at the age of fifteen but by the time he was twenty six he'd already won five BJJ World Championships (twice as a black belt), five Pan-Am Championships (twice as a black belt), five Brazilian National Championships (twice as a black belt) and established himself as one of the very best BJJ practitioners in the world.

When it comes to pure grappling ability, Barral easily ranks amongst the very best in the division and his ground skills and jiu jitsu game are absolutely world class. Barral is a terrific BJJ player who displays high level transitions, beautiful guard passing abilities and very dangerous submission skills on the mat. Tremendously gifted fighting off his back; Barral is widely recognized for possessing one of the very best guard games in the grappling world today. Barral is great with sweeps and submissions and is incredibly effective operating from the butterfly guard off his back. Comfortable from any position on the ground, Barral's pure BJJ talent is another level compared to most in the division and in the past he's made top grapplers look like amateurs (you can watch him choke UFC superstar Demian Maia unconscious below). In spite of his jiu jitsu expertise, Barral's shown he isn't afraid of using his fists on the ground and does use his punches well to open up submission and grappling opportunities from top position. In his grappling career Barral has gotten accustomed to simply pulling guard to get the fight to the ground and will need to work on his takedowns to succeed in mixed martial arts. He's shown the ability to get the fight to the ground from the clinch, but overall he doesn't possess great technical wrestling skills or takedowns at this point. He'll also need to work on getting accustomed to dealing with strikes when he's fighting off his back but given the technical ground game Barral owns, he holds considerable potential in his MMA grappling game if he can compliment his jiu jitsu with capable skills in his takedowns and ground and pound.

Barral will need to work on his standup although he does enter the sport with a background in tae kwon do. He comes forward and uses his kicks well, keeps his hands up and shows decent instincts on his feet but his MMA striking game is still quite raw. Given his jiu jitsu base, Barral does display good composure on his feet but will need to continue working on his striking if he wishes to develop into a versatile, well rounded middleweight fighter.