diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index b88eb6c01f..2f820917a5 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2018-02-28  Maciej W. Rozycki  <macro@mips.com>
+
+	* elf32-mips.c (mips_info_to_howto_rel): Call
+	`mips_elf32_rtype_to_howto' directly rather than via
+	`->elf_backend_mips_rtype_to_howto'.
+
 2018-03-28  Renlin Li  <renlin.li@arm.com>
 
 	PR ld/22970
diff --git a/bfd/elf32-mips.c b/bfd/elf32-mips.c
index d6005ff53f..37676778e1 100644
--- a/bfd/elf32-mips.c
+++ b/bfd/elf32-mips.c
@@ -2235,12 +2235,10 @@ mips_elf32_rtype_to_howto (bfd *abfd,
 static bfd_boolean
 mips_info_to_howto_rel (bfd *abfd, arelent *cache_ptr, Elf_Internal_Rela *dst)
 {
-  const struct elf_backend_data *bed;
   unsigned int r_type;
 
   r_type = ELF32_R_TYPE (dst->r_info);
-  bed = get_elf_backend_data (abfd);
-  cache_ptr->howto = bed->elf_backend_mips_rtype_to_howto (abfd, r_type, FALSE);
+  cache_ptr->howto = mips_elf32_rtype_to_howto (abfd, r_type, FALSE);
   if (cache_ptr->howto == NULL)
     {
       /* xgettext:c-format */