diff --git a/app/models/merge_request_diff.rb b/app/models/merge_request_diff.rb
index 6f1beede6f9..a3029a54604 100644
--- a/app/models/merge_request_diff.rb
+++ b/app/models/merge_request_diff.rb
@@ -313,7 +313,8 @@ class MergeRequestDiff < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     # merge_request_diff_commits.reload is preferred way to reload associated
     # objects but it returns cached result for some reason in this case
-    commits = merge_request_diff_commits(true)
+    # we can circumvent that by specifying that we need an uncached reload
+    commits = self.class.uncached { merge_request_diff_commits.reload }
     self.commits_count = commits.size
   end
 
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/force-reload-arguments-1.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/force-reload-arguments-1.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..29f34b8bdbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/force-reload-arguments-1.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Passing an argument to force an association to reload is now deprecated
+merge_request: 23334
+author: Jasper Maes
+type: other