diff --git a/pkg/api/meta/restmapper.go b/pkg/api/meta/restmapper.go
index bb1d817a2fe..7beadbb773d 100644
--- a/pkg/api/meta/restmapper.go
+++ b/pkg/api/meta/restmapper.go
@@ -189,9 +189,21 @@ func (m *DefaultRESTMapper) GroupForResource(resource string) (string, error) {
 // them with group/version tuples.
 // TODO this should probably become RESTMapping(GroupKind, versions ...string)
 func (m *DefaultRESTMapper) RESTMapping(kind string, versions ...string) (*RESTMapping, error) {
+	// TODO, this looks really strange, but once this API is update, the version detection becomes clean again
+	// because you won't be able to request cross-group kinds
+	hadVersion := false
+	for _, gvString := range versions {
+		currGroupVersion, err := unversioned.ParseGroupVersion(gvString)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if len(currGroupVersion.Version) != 0 {
+			hadVersion = true
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Pick an appropriate version
 	var groupVersion *unversioned.GroupVersion
-	hadVersion := false
 	for _, v := range versions {
 		if len(v) == 0 {
 			continue
@@ -202,7 +214,6 @@ func (m *DefaultRESTMapper) RESTMapping(kind string, versions ...string) (*RESTM
 		}
 
 		currGVK := currGroupVersion.WithKind(kind)
-		hadVersion = true
 		if _, ok := m.kindToPluralResource[currGVK]; ok {
 			groupVersion = &currGroupVersion
 			break
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go
index c207cbd33cb..0cfe6e0dabe 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go
@@ -51,21 +51,12 @@ type OutputVersionMapper struct {
 
 // RESTMapping implements meta.RESTMapper by prepending the output version to the preferred version list.
 func (m OutputVersionMapper) RESTMapping(kind string, versions ...string) (*meta.RESTMapping, error) {
-	preferred := []string{m.OutputVersion}
-	for _, version := range versions {
-		if len(version) > 0 {
-			preferred = append(preferred, version)
-		}
+	mapping, err := m.RESTMapper.RESTMapping(kind, m.OutputVersion)
+	if err == nil {
+		return mapping, nil
 	}
-	// if the caller wants to use the default version list, try with the preferred version, and on
-	// error, use the default behavior.
-	if len(preferred) == 1 {
-		if m, err := m.RESTMapper.RESTMapping(kind, preferred...); err == nil {
-			return m, nil
-		}
-		preferred = nil
-	}
-	return m.RESTMapper.RESTMapping(kind, preferred...)
+
+	return m.RESTMapper.RESTMapping(kind, versions...)
 }
 
 // ShortcutExpander is a RESTMapper that can be used for Kubernetes