diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 9aafa332828f..48e101ad1392 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -2779,13 +2779,8 @@ static int trace__event_handler(struct trace *trace, struct evsel *evsel,
 {
 	struct thread *thread;
 	int callchain_ret = 0;
-	/*
-	 * Check if we called perf_evsel__disable(evsel) due to, for instance,
-	 * this event's max_events having been hit and this is an entry coming
-	 * from the ring buffer that we should discard, since the max events
-	 * have already been considered/printed.
-	 */
-	if (evsel->disabled)
+
+	if (evsel->nr_events_printed >= evsel->max_events)
 		return 0;
 
 	thread = machine__findnew_thread(trace->host, sample->pid, sample->tid);