diff --git a/benchmark/benchmark.go b/benchmark/benchmark.go
index 5a9c733d..5bb87ea0 100644
--- a/benchmark/benchmark.go
+++ b/benchmark/benchmark.go
@@ -192,9 +192,6 @@ func DoGenericStreamingRoundTrip(stream testpb.BenchmarkService_StreamingCallCli
 
 // NewClientConn creates a gRPC client connection to addr.
 func NewClientConn(addr string, opts ...grpc.DialOption) *grpc.ClientConn {
-	if len(opts) <= 0 {
-		opts = append(opts, grpc.WithInsecure())
-	}
 	conn, err := grpc.Dial(addr, opts...)
 	if err != nil {
 		grpclog.Fatalf("NewClientConn(%q) failed to create a ClientConn %v", addr, err)
diff --git a/benchmark/benchmark_test.go b/benchmark/benchmark_test.go
index 65e97ad7..ccf0f457 100644
--- a/benchmark/benchmark_test.go
+++ b/benchmark/benchmark_test.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func runUnary(b *testing.B, maxConcurrentCalls int) {
 	b.StopTimer()
 	target, stopper := StartServer("localhost:0")
 	defer stopper()
-	conn := NewClientConn(target)
+	conn := NewClientConn(target, grpc.WithInsecure())
 	tc := testpb.NewBenchmarkServiceClient(conn)
 
 	// Warm up connection.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func runStream(b *testing.B, maxConcurrentCalls int) {
 	b.StopTimer()
 	target, stopper := StartServer("localhost:0")
 	defer stopper()
-	conn := NewClientConn(target)
+	conn := NewClientConn(target, grpc.WithInsecure())
 	tc := testpb.NewBenchmarkServiceClient(conn)
 
 	// Warm up connection.