diff --git a/drivers/ufs/core/ufshcd.c b/drivers/ufs/core/ufshcd.c
index f478d5b5230d..dbdb8c30ca09 100644
--- a/drivers/ufs/core/ufshcd.c
+++ b/drivers/ufs/core/ufshcd.c
@@ -2293,12 +2293,13 @@ static inline int ufshcd_monitor_opcode2dir(u8 opcode)
 		return -EINVAL;
 }
 
+/* Must only be called for SCSI commands. */
 static inline bool ufshcd_should_inform_monitor(struct ufs_hba *hba,
 						struct ufshcd_lrb *lrbp)
 {
 	const struct ufs_hba_monitor *m = &hba->monitor;
 
-	return (m->enabled && lrbp && lrbp->cmd &&
+	return (m->enabled &&
 		(!m->chunk_size || m->chunk_size == lrbp->cmd->sdb.length) &&
 		ktime_before(hba->monitor.enabled_ts, lrbp->issue_time_stamp));
 }
@@ -2368,9 +2369,9 @@ static inline void ufshcd_send_command(struct ufs_hba *hba,
 	if (lrbp->cmd) {
 		ufshcd_add_command_trace(hba, lrbp->cmd, UFS_CMD_SEND);
 		ufshcd_clk_scaling_start_busy(hba);
+		if (unlikely(ufshcd_should_inform_monitor(hba, lrbp)))
+			ufshcd_start_monitor(hba, lrbp);
 	}
-	if (unlikely(ufshcd_should_inform_monitor(hba, lrbp)))
-		ufshcd_start_monitor(hba, lrbp);
 
 	if (hba->mcq_enabled) {
 		int utrd_size = sizeof(struct utp_transfer_req_desc);