The Ultimate Fighting Championship III (later renamed UFC 3: The American Dream) was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on September 9, 1994, at Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and was later released on home video.
UFC 3 used an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $60,000. The tournament had no weight classes or weight limits. Each match had no time limit or rounds; therefore no judges were used for the night. Competitors could only win a match by submission, throwing in the towel, knockout, or referee stoppage. This event marked the first time the referee was given the authority to stop the contest. The referee for the night was once again "Big" John McCarthy.
Replacement fighter Steve Jennum won the tournament by defeating Harold Howard via submission due to strikes, despite only fighting in the finals. Jennum was a replacement for Ken Shamrock, who made it to the finals but withdrew due to injury. This was the first UFC tournament that was not won by Royce Gracie (who could not continue due to fatigue). After Jennum won the UFC 3 tournament as an alternate, the UFC instituted alternate qualifying bouts to balance out fatigue, and lessen the advantage that alternates previously had entering the tournament without fighting quarterfinal bouts.
