Biography
When Steve Jennum attended UFC 3: The American Dream (1994) as an alternate fighter, he did not expect to compete at that Ultimate Fighting Championship (2000) (UFC) event. One account described him in the parking lot of North Carolina's Grady Cole Center, going to his car to leave before all the fights were completed. Jennum was stopped, and the Nebraska police officer was told he was needed to compete. With only 20 minutes of live Pay-Per-View time remaining, UFC wanted an impromptu main event because injuries and withdrawals changed their plans.
Earlier, Harold Howard made it to the tournament finals with a forfeit victory over Royce Gracie. Gracie left the competition as a consequence of a grueling win over Kimo Leopoldo. Ken Shamrock had advanced by submitting Christophe Leninger and Felix Mitchell. Injured from the bouts, Shamrock lost his motivation to continue after Gracie--whose defeat of him at UFC 1: The Beginning (1993) he sought to avenge--was eliminated. Jennum replaced Shamrock to face Howard, whom had knocked out Roland Payne in his first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight. Jennum, a ninjutsu practitioner, had no previous professional MMA fight when he competed for the title of Ultimate Fighting Champion.
Jennum was pursued by Howard around the cage who hopped and did forward flips. Howard landed a right punch, Jennum closed the distance, held Howard and tried to take him down. With his back to the cage, Howard locked on a guillotine headlock and both fighters went to the ground with the hold maintained. Jennum escaped, stood up first and landed punches on Howard when he got up. Jennum held Howard again and got a trip, ended up in full mount, unloading right hands--many of them blocked--while holding Howard's neck with his left hand. Howard tapped the mat in submission. About the same time Howard's corner team threw in two towels. Jennum became the third Ultimate Fighting Champion by competing once. UFC changed the rules to require prospective alternate fighters to compete and win at least once to earn their positions.
At UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors (1994) Jennum returned to fight Melton Bowen, a professional boxer and security guard. Jennum created distance by repeatedly trying to side-kick Bowen. After Bowen missed a punch, Jennum clinched with him in a struggle to take him to the ground. With gloves on, Bowen hit Jennum a few times with Bowen gloved hand. Gloves were optional at that time. Jennum leg tripped him to the ground. In the full mount position Jennum landed punches and grabbed the cage to maintain control. Bowen grabbed the fence and pulled himself up. After an exchange of strikes, Jennum grabbed Melton's upper body and hip-tossed him to the ground, resuming control on top. Jennum's weakened punches continued to hit Bowen who was still defensive. The bout ended when Jennum took Bowen's right arm to get the arm-bar; Bowen tapped the ground with his left hand. Jennum discontinued in the tournament because his bare hands were swollen. His final fight in the octagon happened during UFC: Ultimate Ultimate 1996 (1996) with David Abbott. Abbott brought him to the ground quickly. When Abbott raised up to to connect with punches, Jennum raised most of his body on his shoulders to use his feet to create distance. It was brief and Abbott resumed top control, pressuring the back of Jennum's head against the fence which resulted in a tap-out in a minute and fourteen seconds.
World Vale Tudo Championships 1(WVC) was held in Tokyo, Japan, with Jennum matched up with Marco Ruas in the main event. Ruas secured a body lock to take Jennum down in side-control. Jennum submitted at a minute and 44 seconds following hammer-fists and elbow strikes from Ruas. Jennum last fought in MMA at Extreme Challenge 4 in 1997. Jason Godsey took him down to a corner of the cage. Jennum partially stood up, was punched repeatedly and forced back down. He submitted to a left forearm choke from Godsey.
Jennum made news a decade later when he was the target of an attempted robbery while off-duty in a parking lot. On December 17, 2007, Jennum encountered three attackers who approached him from the back using a bottle. Jennum struggled with one attacker and left when a knife was pulled. He reported the incident and located the car with the suspected 20-year-old knife-wielder. Jennum called the police, who arrested that suspect, and later found the other two.
