diff --git a/fs/io_uring.c b/fs/io_uring.c
index f3078708fdb86cf394dea9d0b28cd27d876277e0..98552a1852ea77077c9fd566a72e453a372db843 100644
--- a/fs/io_uring.c
+++ b/fs/io_uring.c
@@ -6259,9 +6259,8 @@ static enum hrtimer_restart io_link_timeout_fn(struct hrtimer *timer)
 	if (!list_empty(&req->link_list)) {
 		prev = list_entry(req->link_list.prev, struct io_kiocb,
 				  link_list);
-		if (refcount_inc_not_zero(&prev->refs))
-			list_del_init(&req->link_list);
-		else
+		list_del_init(&req->link_list);
+		if (!refcount_inc_not_zero(&prev->refs))
 			prev = NULL;
 	}