Fresh off her appearance on The Ultimate Fighter 34, Delphine Benouaich made her promotional debut against Sofia Montenegro at UFC Paris on Saturday.
The TUF 34 strawweight semifinalist was actually debuting ahead of the show’s finale, and was one of several fighters from the current season to have already made their way to the UFC.
Benouaich and Montenegro wasted no time getting to work on Saturday, kicking off the preliminary card exchanging at a high pace. Benouaich looked to be the smaller girl in the strawweight fight, but about 90 seconds in managed to put Montenegro on her heels, marching forward, hands firing heavy shots.
Montenegro weathered that storm and fired her own volley moments later, but soon it was Benouaich on the offensive again, mixing in a knee with her strikes. Montenegro fired a leg kick, then the pair battled it out in the pocket. Benouaich hit the body, and added a leg kick of her own after another heavy exchange. An impressive start to the UFC Paris opener, in terms of volume and aggression, with the crowd very into the affair.
Round two saw Montenegro looking to set up an elbow up top while both ladies continued to exchange. Benouaich fell short on a kick to the midsection. Montenegro connected with a right hand. Benouaich fired a knee to the body after closing the distance. Benouaich, however, was leaking a bit of blood from her nose. It didn’t seem to deter her much as the French fighter continued to march forward. She clinched up, firing numerous knees to the body of Montenegro.
After breaking from the clinch, Montenegro fired a leg kick low. Just furious volume through the first half of the round, until Benouaich finally got the upper hand. She dropped her opponent with a right hand, bringing the crowd to their feet! Benouaich followed up with ground n’ pound then worked her way to mount. Montenegro was bleeding bad, as Benouaich dropped punches and elbows in a maelstrom of violence. The ref, apparently enjoying the blood bath, let it continue, and Montenegro turned, trying to escape. Benouaich stayed on her, carrying on with the violence. When Montegegro turned again, Benouaich caught her in a rear-naked choke! The badly bloodied Montenegro went to sleep rather than tap, and Delphine Benouaich had a massive victory in her UFC debut!
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 5, 2026
A wildly impressive, electrifying debut from Delphine, who got France on the board out of the gate at UFC Paris, and more importantly, has already made her presence felt in the 115lb division!
Official Result: Delphine Benouaich def. Sofia Montenegro by technical submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2, 4:22
