diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c b/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
index e4e4e60b1224..8c4adac6fafc 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
@@ -503,6 +503,8 @@ static int nvme_nvm_submit_io(struct nvm_dev *dev, struct nvm_rq *rqd)
 	if (!cmd)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	nvme_nvm_rqtocmd(rq, rqd, ns, cmd);
+
 	rq = nvme_alloc_request(q, (struct nvme_command *)cmd, 0, NVME_QID_ANY);
 	if (IS_ERR(rq)) {
 		kfree(cmd);
@@ -517,8 +519,6 @@ static int nvme_nvm_submit_io(struct nvm_dev *dev, struct nvm_rq *rqd)
 		rq->__data_len = 0;
 	}
 
-	nvme_nvm_rqtocmd(rq, rqd, ns, cmd);
-
 	rq->end_io_data = rqd;
 
 	blk_execute_rq_nowait(q, NULL, rq, 0, nvme_nvm_end_io);