diff --git a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
index 59241ff342be..0ee5af529238 100755
--- a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
@@ -11,23 +11,18 @@ LF='
 '
 
 #
-# First check if there is a .git to get the version from git describe
-# otherwise try to get the version from the kernel Makefile
+# Always try first to get the version from the kernel Makefile
 #
 CID=
 TAG=
 if test -d ../../.git -o -f ../../.git
 then
-	TAG=$(git describe --abbrev=0 --match "v[0-9].[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null )
+	TAG=$(MAKEFLAGS= make -sC ../.. kernelversion)
 	CID=$(git log -1 --abbrev=12 --pretty=format:"%h" 2>/dev/null) && CID="-g$CID"
-elif test -f ../../PERF-VERSION-FILE
-then
+else
 	TAG=$(cut -d' ' -f3 ../../PERF-VERSION-FILE | sed -e 's/\"//g')
 fi
-if test -z "$TAG"
-then
-	TAG=$(MAKEFLAGS= make -sC ../.. kernelversion)
-fi
+
 VN="$TAG$CID"
 if test -n "$CID"
 then