diff --git a/app/models/merge_request.rb b/app/models/merge_request.rb
index acaf14a12e9ee1400ce2c8e39d010dc9bdee6ae0..b7c775777c7e68677b985ea04dadb8264c226dc3 100644
--- a/app/models/merge_request.rb
+++ b/app/models/merge_request.rb
@@ -636,8 +636,7 @@ class MergeRequest < ActiveRecord::Base
     ]
 
     if !include_description && closes_issues_references.present?
-      issue_text = 'issue'.pluralize(closes_issues_references.size)
-      message << "Closes #{issue_text} #{closes_issues_references.to_sentence}"
+      message << "Closes #{closes_issues_references.to_sentence}"
     end
 
     message << "#{description}" if include_description && description.present?
diff --git a/spec/features/merge_requests/merge_commit_message_toggle_spec.rb b/spec/features/merge_requests/merge_commit_message_toggle_spec.rb
index 2c78234bd0f8e174de9f6a84fbf44c7067a6d676..3dbe26cddb0fda2c9ed2bb7c258d6e17e0dc4635 100644
--- a/spec/features/merge_requests/merge_commit_message_toggle_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/merge_requests/merge_commit_message_toggle_spec.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ feature 'Clicking toggle commit message link', feature: true, js: true do
     [
       "Merge branch 'feature' into 'master'",
       merge_request.title,
-      "Closes issues #{issue_1.to_reference} and #{issue_2.to_reference}",
+      "Closes #{issue_1.to_reference} and #{issue_2.to_reference}",
       "See merge request #{merge_request.to_reference}"
     ].join("\n\n")
   end
diff --git a/spec/models/merge_request_spec.rb b/spec/models/merge_request_spec.rb
index 1e9790cf6442ab01481b6f1d328b819fc07eea56..5da00a8636a03cd14b631195a2b364e2c74d98de 100644
--- a/spec/models/merge_request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/merge_request_spec.rb
@@ -416,16 +416,16 @@ describe MergeRequest, models: true do
     end
 
     it 'includes its closed issues in the body' do
-      issue = create(:issue, project: subject.project) 
+      issue = create(:issue, project: subject.project)
 
       subject.project.team << [subject.author, :developer]
-      subject.description = "Closes #{issue.to_reference}"
+      subject.description = "This issue Closes #{issue.to_reference}"
 
       allow(subject.project).to receive(:default_branch).
         and_return(subject.target_branch)
 
       expect(subject.merge_commit_message)
-        .to match("Closes issue #{issue.to_reference}")
+        .to match("Closes #{issue.to_reference}")
     end
 
     it 'includes its reference in the body' do