diff --git a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/processing/event/ReconciliationDispatcher.java b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/processing/event/ReconciliationDispatcher.java
index 6ca6959bbb..235a27481d 100644
--- a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/processing/event/ReconciliationDispatcher.java
+++ b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/processing/event/ReconciliationDispatcher.java
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ public R updateStatus(R resource) {
       return resourceOperation
           .inNamespace(resource.getMetadata().getNamespace())
           .withName(getName(resource))
-          .updateStatus(resource);
+          .replaceStatus(resource);
     }
 
     public R replaceWithLock(R resource) {
diff --git a/operator-framework/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/SubResourceUpdateIT.java b/operator-framework/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/SubResourceUpdateIT.java
index 85e11c7287..bd335c9ae7 100644
--- a/operator-framework/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/SubResourceUpdateIT.java
+++ b/operator-framework/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/SubResourceUpdateIT.java
@@ -70,15 +70,13 @@ void ifNoFinalizerPresentFirstAddsTheFinalizerThenExecutesControllerAgain() {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Not that here status sub-resource update will fail on optimistic locking. This solves a tricky
-   * situation: If this would not happen (no optimistic locking on status sub-resource) we could
-   * receive and store an event while processing the controller method. But this event would always
-   * fail since its resource version is outdated already.
+   * The update status actually does optimistic locking in the background but fabric8 client retries
+   * it with an up-to-date resource version.
    */
   @Test
   void updateCustomResourceAfterSubResourceChange() {
     SubResourceTestCustomResource resource = createTestCustomResource("1");
-    operator.create(SubResourceTestCustomResource.class, resource);
+    resource = operator.create(SubResourceTestCustomResource.class, resource);
 
     // waits for the resource to start processing
     waitXms(EVENT_RECEIVE_WAIT);
@@ -89,9 +87,9 @@ void updateCustomResourceAfterSubResourceChange() {
 
     // wait for sure, there are no more events
     waitXms(WAIT_AFTER_EXECUTION);
-    // there is no event on status update processed
-    assertThat(TestUtils.getNumberOfExecutions(operator))
-        .isEqualTo(3);
+    // note that both is valid, since after the update of the status the event receive lags,
+    // that will result in a third execution
+    assertThat(TestUtils.getNumberOfExecutions(operator)).isBetween(2, 3);
   }
 
   void awaitStatusUpdated(String name) {