diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c b/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
index 5ae1da97d2e63c56db5b0439860b9b5397c47ac8..7ba98f0e6365599d283f6ca573343de8afdd436f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
@@ -109,13 +109,23 @@ perf_evlist__next(struct perf_evlist *evlist, struct perf_evsel *prev)
 	return next;
 }
 
+void perf_evlist__exit(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
+{
+	perf_cpu_map__put(evlist->cpus);
+	perf_thread_map__put(evlist->threads);
+	evlist->cpus = NULL;
+	evlist->threads = NULL;
+	fdarray__exit(&evlist->pollfd);
+}
+
 void perf_evlist__delete(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 {
 	if (evlist == NULL)
 		return;
 
 	perf_evlist__munmap(evlist);
-	fdarray__exit(&evlist->pollfd);
+	perf_evlist__close(evlist);
+	perf_evlist__exit(evlist);
 	free(evlist);
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/evlist.h b/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/evlist.h
index b2019700cdc0e4e021c1d8dbacb165b2e952871d..0721512ffb19906d56d8fea14f14c58dd378325c 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/evlist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/evlist.h
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ int perf_evlist__mmap_ops(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 			  struct perf_evlist_mmap_ops *ops,
 			  struct perf_mmap_param *mp);
 
+void perf_evlist__exit(struct perf_evlist *evlist);
+
 /**
  * __perf_evlist__for_each_entry - iterate thru all the evsels
  * @list: list_head instance to iterate
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 5192c6583c962e3fabffd8ca2d40861714600205..031ace3696a20310b75021028b2d2af85fb54078 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ void evlist__exit(struct evlist *evlist)
 {
 	zfree(&evlist->mmap);
 	zfree(&evlist->overwrite_mmap);
-	fdarray__exit(&evlist->core.pollfd);
+	perf_evlist__exit(&evlist->core);
 }
 
 void evlist__delete(struct evlist *evlist)
@@ -148,10 +148,6 @@ void evlist__delete(struct evlist *evlist)
 
 	evlist__munmap(evlist);
 	evlist__close(evlist);
-	perf_cpu_map__put(evlist->core.cpus);
-	perf_thread_map__put(evlist->core.threads);
-	evlist->core.cpus = NULL;
-	evlist->core.threads = NULL;
 	evlist__purge(evlist);
 	evlist__exit(evlist);
 	free(evlist);