diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_gem.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_gem.c
index c60f65a815d3e74b1c998b0bf24bee9d600c8390..78a27f8ad7d97be653a63506bb60bd9c7b518252 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_gem.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_gem.c
@@ -308,7 +308,8 @@ validate_fini_list(struct list_head *list, struct nouveau_fence *fence,
 	list_for_each_safe(entry, tmp, list) {
 		nvbo = list_entry(entry, struct nouveau_bo, entry);
 
-		nouveau_bo_fence(nvbo, fence);
+		if (likely(fence))
+			nouveau_bo_fence(nvbo, fence);
 
 		if (unlikely(nvbo->validate_mapped)) {
 			ttm_bo_kunmap(&nvbo->kmap);