The Ultimate Fighter 3 was the third season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. It premiered on April 6, 2006, immediately after the conclusion of Ultimate Fight Night 4. The season featured sixteen fighters (eight light heavyweights and eight middleweights) with still-feuding former champion Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock as coaches. The finale aired on June 24, 2006 and tied the UFC's all-time record with a 2.0 overall rating.
There were several rule changes from the previous Ultimate Fighter seasons. There were to be no team challenges. All fighters would have to win a preliminary match before advancing to the semi-finals—which in practice started the single-elimination tournament at the beginning of the series instead of near the end. The first preliminary match was set by the team who won a coin toss. All subsequent first-round match-ups were set by the team that won the previous match. Each fight was set for two rounds instead of the normal three. If there was a draw after two rounds, the match would go to a final, five-minute tiebreaker round. In such a case, the judges' final decision on the match would be based solely on the third round (unless the fight was stopped by the referee before the end of the round). Coaches were allowed to bring two other assistant coaches to assist with training, whereas in previous seasons, assistant trainers hired by the UFC worked for both camps.
This series of The Ultimate Fighter was also the first in which fighters who reside outside North America had participated (Michael Bisping, Clitheroe, England; Ross Pointon, Stoke-on-Trent, England).
As a part of their agreement to work as coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 3, Shamrock and Ortiz had a rematch of their UFC 40 fight at UFC 61
A 5 disc DVD set of the entire season, full finale, and auditions was released in stores entitled The Ultimate Fighter 3: The Ultimate Grudge.
Contents
Cast
Coaches and Trainers
Team Ortiz
Tito Ortiz, head coach
Dean Lister, jiu jitsu coach
Saul Soliz, kickboxing coach
Wing Butler, sign language interpreter
Team Shamrock
Ken Shamrock, head coach
Roman Pollock, boxing coach
Dan Freeman, nutrition/strength coach
Fighters
Middleweights
Team Ortiz: Mike Stine, Kendall Grove, Rory Singer, Danny Abbadi
Team Shamrock: Kalib Starnes, Solomon Hutcherson, Ed Herman, Ross Pointon
Light Heavyweights
Team Ortiz: Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Noah Inhofer, Josh Haynes
Team Shamrock: Jesse Forbes, Kristian Rothaermel, Tait Fletcher, Mike Nickels
Host
Dana White
Episodes
Episode 1: Fresh Meat (Original Air Date: 6 April 2006)
Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock are introduced as the coaches.
A coin is flipped (red for Ortiz, green for Shamrock) and Ortiz wins, meaning he got to pick the first fighter
Kalib Starnes defeated Mike Stine by KO (punches) at 2:09 of the first round.
Episode 2: The Basketball (Original Air Date: 13 April 2006)
Noah Inhofer defeated Jesse Forbes by submission (armbar) at 2:35 of the first round.
Team Ortiz gains control of the matches.
Episode 3: Team Dagger (Original Air Date: 20 April 2006)
Grove and Solomon Hutcherson befriend each other and declare themselves "Team Dagger," despite being on different teams. They will try to share information with each other to make sure that they both make it to the finale.
Kendall Grove defeated Ross Pointon by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:45 of the first round.
Team Ortiz retains control of the match-ups.
Episode 4: Hitting it Hard (Original Air Date: 27 April 2006)
Michael Bisping defeated Kristian Rothaermel by TKO (strikes) at 3:51 of the first round.
Team Ortiz retains control of the matches.
Tournament Bracket
Light Heavyweight Bracket
* Inhofer decided to quit the show. His semi-finals spot was then replaced by Forbes.
* Hamill was injured after his fight. Pointon stepped up one weight class to replace him.
The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock Finale (also known as The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale) was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on June 24, 2006. Featured were the finals from The Ultimate Fighter 3 in both the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions as well as a main event between Kenny Florian and Sam Stout.
This event also marked the debut of future Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping.
During the event Randy Couture was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame and the return of Jens Pulver was announced.
Bonus awards
The following fighters received bonuses.
Fight of the Night: Kendall Grove vs. Ed Herman
Knockout of the Night: Luigi Fioravanti
Submission of the Night: Kenny Florian and Rory Singer
Encyclopedia awards
Michael Bisping was honored for an award in the October 2011 book titled UFC Encyclopedia.
Knockout of the Night: Michael Bisping
Reported payout
Michael Bisping: $10,000
Kendall Grove: $10,000
Rory Singer: $10,000
Mike Nickels: $10,000
Matt Hamill: $10,000
Kalib Starnes: $10,000
Keith Jardine: $10,000
Solomon Hutcherson: $5,000
Josh Haynes: $5,000
Ed Herman: $5,000
Ross Pointon: $5,000
Jesse Forbes: $5,000
Danny Abaddi: $5,000
Luigi Fioravanti: $4,000
Sam Stout: $4,000
Wes Combs: $2,000
Wilson Gouveia: $2,000
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $124,000
Coaches' Fight
UFC 61: Bitter Rivals was held on July 8, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
Tito Ortiz defeated Ken Shamrock via TKO (punches) at 1:18 of the first round.