diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_breadcrumbs.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_breadcrumbs.c
index cacaa1d04d17..09ed90c0ba00 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_breadcrumbs.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_breadcrumbs.c
@@ -106,16 +106,6 @@ bool intel_engine_breadcrumbs_irq(struct intel_engine_cs *engine)
 
 			GEM_BUG_ON(!test_bit(I915_FENCE_FLAG_SIGNAL,
 					     &rq->fence.flags));
-			clear_bit(I915_FENCE_FLAG_SIGNAL, &rq->fence.flags);
-
-			/*
-			 * We may race with direct invocation of
-			 * dma_fence_signal(), e.g. i915_request_retire(),
-			 * in which case we can skip processing it ourselves.
-			 */
-			if (test_bit(DMA_FENCE_FLAG_SIGNALED_BIT,
-				     &rq->fence.flags))
-				continue;
 
 			/*
 			 * Queue for execution after dropping the signaling
@@ -123,6 +113,14 @@ bool intel_engine_breadcrumbs_irq(struct intel_engine_cs *engine)
 			 * more signalers to the same context or engine.
 			 */
 			i915_request_get(rq);
+
+			/*
+			 * We may race with direct invocation of
+			 * dma_fence_signal(), e.g. i915_request_retire(),
+			 * so we need to acquire our reference to the request
+			 * before we cancel the breadcrumb.
+			 */
+			clear_bit(I915_FENCE_FLAG_SIGNAL, &rq->fence.flags);
 			list_add_tail(&rq->signal_link, &signal);
 		}