diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index fb706f9b7d0..f050d385211 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -478,6 +478,7 @@ Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-2909  SoftValueSortedMap is broken, can generate NPEs
    HBASE-2919  initTableReducerJob: Unused method parameter
                (Libor Dener via Stack)
+   HBASE-2923  Deadlock between HRegion.internalFlushCache and close
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-1760  Cleanup TODOs in HTable
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index e47b8648e24..9fdd86d1ddf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize { // , Writable{
    *
    * @throws IOException e
    */
-  public synchronized List<StoreFile> close(final boolean abort)
+  public List<StoreFile> close(final boolean abort)
   throws IOException {
     if (isClosed()) {
       LOG.warn("Region " + this + " already closed");
@@ -507,6 +507,10 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize { // , Writable{
     this.closing.set(true);
     try {
       splitsAndClosesLock.writeLock().lock();
+      if (this.isClosed()) {
+        // SplitTransaction handles the null
+        return null;
+      }
       LOG.debug("Updates disabled for region, no outstanding scanners on " + this);
       try {
         // Write lock means no more row locks can be given out.  Wait on