diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c b/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
index 250b2778bb97d7e3939705806e4aec432348aa28..5e731f2c329c4c29c522789f6fbcea6f88685d75 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
@@ -973,8 +973,8 @@ static void nvme_rdma_error_recovery_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	nvme_start_queues(&ctrl->ctrl);
 
 	if (!nvme_change_ctrl_state(&ctrl->ctrl, NVME_CTRL_CONNECTING)) {
-		/* state change failure should never happen */
-		WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
+		/* state change failure is ok if we're in DELETING state */
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(ctrl->ctrl.state != NVME_CTRL_DELETING);
 		return;
 	}