diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater.go b/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater.go
index dbc097218ad..ac61f0215cd 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater.go
@@ -300,14 +300,14 @@ func (r *RollingUpdater) scaleDown(newRc, oldRc *api.ReplicationController, desi
 		return oldRc, nil
 	}
 	// Block until there are any pods ready.
-	oldAvailable, newAvailable, err := r.waitForReadyPods(config.Interval, config.Timeout, oldRc, newRc)
+	_, newAvailable, err := r.waitForReadyPods(config.Interval, config.Timeout, oldRc, newRc)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	// The old controller is considered as part of the total because we want to
 	// maintain minimum availability even with a volatile old controller.
-	// Scale down as much as possible while maintaining minimum availability.
-	decrement := (oldAvailable + newAvailable) - minAvailable
+	// Scale down as much as possible while maintaining minimum availability
+	decrement := oldRc.Spec.Replicas + newAvailable - minAvailable
 	// The decrement normally shouldn't drop below 0 because the available count
 	// always starts below the old replica count, but the old replica count can
 	// decrement due to externalities like pods death in the replica set. This
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater_test.go b/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater_test.go
index 796f3877326..927d4119cd0 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/rolling_updater_test.go
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ Scaling foo-v1 down to 0
 				up{8},
 				down{oldReady: 4, newReady: 8, to: 1},
 				up{10},
-				down{oldReady: 10, newReady: 1, to: 0},
+				down{oldReady: 1, newReady: 10, to: 0},
 			},
 			output: `Created foo-v2
 Scaling up foo-v2 from 0 to 10, scaling down foo-v1 from 10 to 0 (keep 9 pods available, don't exceed 12 pods)
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ Scaling foo-v1 down to 0
 				up{8},
 				down{oldReady: 4, newReady: 8, to: 2},
 				up{10},
-				down{oldReady: 10, newReady: 2, to: 0},
+				down{oldReady: 1, newReady: 10, to: 0},
 			},
 			output: `Created foo-v2
 Scaling up foo-v2 from 5 to 10, scaling down foo-v1 from 6 to 0 (keep 10 pods available, don't exceed 12 pods)
@@ -542,6 +542,21 @@ Scaling foo-v1 down to 0
 Scaling up foo-v2 from 0 to 20, scaling down foo-v1 from 10 to 0 (keep 10 pods available, don't exceed 70 pods)
 Scaling foo-v2 up to 20
 Scaling foo-v1 down to 0
+`,
+		}, {
+			name:        "1->1 0/1 scale down unavailable rc to a ready rc (rollback)",
+			oldRc:       oldRc(1, 1),
+			newRc:       newRc(1, 1),
+			newRcExists: true,
+			maxUnavail:  intstr.FromInt(0),
+			maxSurge:    intstr.FromInt(1),
+			expected: []interface{}{
+				up{1},
+				down{oldReady: 0, newReady: 1, to: 0},
+			},
+			output: `Continuing update with existing controller foo-v2.
+Scaling up foo-v2 from 1 to 1, scaling down foo-v1 from 1 to 0 (keep 1 pods available, don't exceed 2 pods)
+Scaling foo-v1 down to 0
 `,
 		},
 	}