diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
index 2e98e8a3f1aa..8ae2625415e1 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
@@ -140,12 +140,8 @@ nouveau_i2c_port_create_(struct nouveau_object *parent,
 	}
 
 	/* drop port's i2c subdev refcount, i2c handles this itself */
-	if (ret == 0) {
+	if (ret == 0)
 		list_add_tail(&port->head, &i2c->ports);
-		atomic_dec(&parent->refcount);
-		atomic_dec(&engine->refcount);
-	}
-
 	return ret;
 }