Paige VanZant Opens Up On Hubby Austin Vanderford's 'Special' Debut UFC Win

Paige VanZant was a star in the UFC, but she says her MMA-fighter husband's debut win with the promotion was sweeter than any moment she had in the Octagon!

TMZ Sports talked to VanZant about hubby Austin Vanderford's UFC Fight Night 252 win against Nikolay Veretennikov by second-round TKO ... a fight AV took on less than one week's notice.

Wifey couldn't be prouder.

"It almost felt more special than any of my wins. Just seeing him in that moment. He's my best friend. Seeing him finally make the walk was incredible," PVZ told us.

Dana White's promotion signed the then 34-year-old, 12-2 fighter (Austin's now 13-2 as a pro) last week ... just a few days before the event.

The question is, will Vanderford fight in the UFC again?

"Oh for sure, yeah. Now that he's in, he's in the UFC, it's just playing that game of who they want him to be matched up with and going from there," Paige explained.

Austin isn't taking any time off, either ... he's jumped right back into training, helping VanZant get ready for her big PowerSlap match in early March.

"We got home from the fight and I'm preparing for PowerSlap, and he's been training with me for this entire week, and all the coaches are like, 'Hey, you need to take a few days off,'" Paige said.

"But he's like, 'No, if I get another short notice [fight] I gotta be ready at any second.'"

In the meantime, Paige, 1-0-1 in Slap, is just days away from her contest with 1-0 Mikael-Michelle Brown, going down on March 7 at PowerSlap12 in Sin City ... on the Quinones vs. Bordeaux 2 card.