diff --git a/builtin/merge.c b/builtin/merge.c
index ba9faf126a..c0bbdab710 100644
--- a/builtin/merge.c
+++ b/builtin/merge.c
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
 #include "rerere.h"
 #include "help.h"
 #include "merge.h"
-#include "merge-recursive.h"
 #include "merge-ort-wrappers.h"
 #include "resolve-undo.h"
 #include "remote.h"
@@ -750,12 +749,8 @@ static int try_merge_strategy(const char *strategy, struct commit_list *common,
 
 		repo_hold_locked_index(the_repository, &lock,
 				       LOCK_DIE_ON_ERROR);
-		if (!strcmp(strategy, "ort"))
-			clean = merge_ort_recursive(&o, head, remoteheads->item,
-						    reversed, &result);
-		else
-			clean = merge_recursive(&o, head, remoteheads->item,
-						reversed, &result);
+		clean = merge_ort_recursive(&o, head, remoteheads->item,
+					    reversed, &result);
 		free_commit_list(reversed);
 		strbuf_release(&o.obuf);
 
diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index b5d91fd351..8bb4973589 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -4319,20 +4319,13 @@ static int do_merge(struct repository *r,
 	o.branch2 = ref_name.buf;
 	o.buffer_output = 2;
 
-	if (!opts->strategy || !strcmp(opts->strategy, "ort")) {
-		/*
-		 * TODO: Should use merge_incore_recursive() and
-		 * merge_switch_to_result(), skipping the call to
-		 * merge_switch_to_result() when we don't actually need to
-		 * update the index and working copy immediately.
-		 */
-		ret = merge_ort_recursive(&o,
-					  head_commit, merge_commit, bases,
-					  &i);
-	} else {
-		ret = merge_recursive(&o, head_commit, merge_commit, bases,
-				      &i);
-	}
+	/*
+	 * TODO: Should use merge_incore_recursive() and
+	 * merge_switch_to_result(), skipping the call to
+	 * merge_switch_to_result() when we don't actually need to
+	 * update the index and working copy immediately.
+	 */
+	ret = merge_ort_recursive(&o, head_commit, merge_commit, bases, &i);
 	if (ret <= 0)
 		fputs(o.obuf.buf, stdout);
 	strbuf_release(&o.obuf);
@@ -4343,7 +4336,7 @@ static int do_merge(struct repository *r,
 		goto leave_merge;
 	}
 	/*
-	 * The return value of merge_recursive() is 1 on clean, and 0 on
+	 * The return value of merge_ort_recursive() is 1 on clean, and 0 on
 	 * unclean merge.
 	 *
 	 * Let's reverse that, so that do_merge() returns 0 upon success and
diff --git a/t/t7615-diff-algo-with-mergy-operations.sh b/t/t7615-diff-algo-with-mergy-operations.sh
index ac5863e788..5822d02d51 100755
--- a/t/t7615-diff-algo-with-mergy-operations.sh
+++ b/t/t7615-diff-algo-with-mergy-operations.sh
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	git tag c2
 '
 
-GIT_TEST_MERGE_ALGORITHM=recursive
-
 test_expect_success 'merge c2 to c1 with recursive merge strategy fails with the current default myers diff algorithm' '
 	git reset --hard c1 &&
 	test_must_fail git merge -s recursive -Xdiff-algorithm=myers c2