diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/fieldmanager/fieldmanager_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/fieldmanager/fieldmanager_test.go
index cdabd502c61..35e736ad11e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/fieldmanager/fieldmanager_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/fieldmanager/fieldmanager_test.go
@@ -22,9 +22,12 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"testing"
 
+	"time"
+
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
@@ -76,37 +79,36 @@ func TestApplyStripsFields(t *testing.T) {
 
 	obj := &corev1.Pod{}
 
-	newObj, err := f.Apply(obj, []byte(`{
-		"apiVersion": "apps/v1",
-		"kind": "Deployment",
-		"metadata": {
-			"name": "b",
-			"namespace": "b",
-			"creationTimestamp": "2016-05-19T09:59:00Z",
-			"selfLink": "b",
-			"uid": "b",
-			"clusterName": "b",
-			"generation": 0,
-			"managedFields": [{
-					"manager": "apply",
-					"operation": "Apply",
-					"apiVersion": "apps/v1",
-					"fields": {
-						"f:metadata": {
-							"f:labels": {
-								"f:test-label": {}
-							}
-						}
-					}
-				}],
-			"resourceVersion": "b"
-		}
-	}`), "fieldmanager_test", false)
+	newObj := &corev1.Pod{
+		TypeMeta: metav1.TypeMeta{
+			APIVersion: "apps/v1",
+			Kind:       "Deployment",
+		},
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Name:              "b",
+			Namespace:         "b",
+			CreationTimestamp: metav1.NewTime(time.Now()),
+			SelfLink:          "b",
+			UID:               "b",
+			ClusterName:       "b",
+			Generation:        0,
+			ManagedFields: []metav1.ManagedFieldsEntry{
+				{
+					Manager:    "update",
+					Operation:  metav1.ManagedFieldsOperationApply,
+					APIVersion: "apps/v1",
+				},
+			},
+			ResourceVersion: "b",
+		},
+	}
+
+	updatedObj, err := f.Update(obj, newObj, "fieldmanager_test")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to apply object: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	accessor, err := meta.Accessor(newObj)
+	accessor, err := meta.Accessor(updatedObj)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("couldn't get accessor: %v", err)
 	}