diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
index 8b97a5b8cc..c297901fb0 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb
@@ -915,7 +915,7 @@ module ActiveRecord
     end
 
     def setup_fixtures
-      return unless defined?(ActiveRecord) && !ActiveRecord::Base.configurations.blank?
+      return unless !ActiveRecord::Base.configurations.blank?
 
       if pre_loaded_fixtures && !use_transactional_fixtures
         raise RuntimeError, 'pre_loaded_fixtures requires use_transactional_fixtures'