Embodiments of the present invention provide an uplink reference signal transmission method, a user terminal, and a base station. The uplink reference signal transmission method according to the present invention includes: determining an uplink reference signal position including at least one uplink reference signal symbol group, where each group includes at least one time unit; determining an uplink reference signal symbol group corresponding to a user terminal; and sending an uplink reference signal in a time unit of the uplink reference signal symbol group corresponding to the user terminal. The embodiments of the present invention can ensure an uplink capacity of a system.