diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/Dependency.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/Dependency.scala
index ca52ecafa2..9ea6d2fa2f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/Dependency.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/Dependency.scala
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ class ShuffleDependency[K: ClassTag, V: ClassTag, C: ClassTag](
     val mapSideCombine: Boolean = false)
   extends Dependency[Product2[K, V]] {
 
+  if (mapSideCombine) {
+    require(aggregator.isDefined, "Map-side combine without Aggregator specified!")
+  }
   override def rdd: RDD[Product2[K, V]] = _rdd.asInstanceOf[RDD[Product2[K, V]]]
 
   private[spark] val keyClassName: String = reflect.classTag[K].runtimeClass.getName
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/BlockStoreShuffleReader.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/BlockStoreShuffleReader.scala
index 0562d45ff5..edd69715c9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/BlockStoreShuffleReader.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/BlockStoreShuffleReader.scala
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ private[spark] class BlockStoreShuffleReader[K, C](
         dep.aggregator.get.combineValuesByKey(keyValuesIterator, context)
       }
     } else {
-      require(!dep.mapSideCombine, "Map-side combine without Aggregator specified!")
       interruptibleIter.asInstanceOf[Iterator[Product2[K, C]]]
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManager.scala
index bfb4dc698e..d9fad64f34 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManager.scala
@@ -188,9 +188,9 @@ private[spark] object SortShuffleManager extends Logging {
       log.debug(s"Can't use serialized shuffle for shuffle $shufId because the serializer, " +
         s"${dependency.serializer.getClass.getName}, does not support object relocation")
       false
-    } else if (dependency.aggregator.isDefined) {
-      log.debug(
-        s"Can't use serialized shuffle for shuffle $shufId because an aggregator is defined")
+    } else if (dependency.mapSideCombine) {
+      log.debug(s"Can't use serialized shuffle for shuffle $shufId because we need to do " +
+        s"map-side aggregation")
       false
     } else if (numPartitions > MAX_SHUFFLE_OUTPUT_PARTITIONS_FOR_SERIALIZED_MODE) {
       log.debug(s"Can't use serialized shuffle for shuffle $shufId because it has more than " +
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
index 636b88e792..274399b9cc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ private[spark] class SortShuffleWriter[K, V, C](
   /** Write a bunch of records to this task's output */
   override def write(records: Iterator[Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
     sorter = if (dep.mapSideCombine) {
-      require(dep.aggregator.isDefined, "Map-side combine without Aggregator specified!")
       new ExternalSorter[K, V, C](
         context, dep.aggregator, Some(dep.partitioner), dep.keyOrdering, dep.serializer)
     } else {
@@ -107,7 +106,6 @@ private[spark] object SortShuffleWriter {
   def shouldBypassMergeSort(conf: SparkConf, dep: ShuffleDependency[_, _, _]): Boolean = {
     // We cannot bypass sorting if we need to do map-side aggregation.
     if (dep.mapSideCombine) {
-      require(dep.aggregator.isDefined, "Map-side combine without Aggregator specified!")
       false
     } else {
       val bypassMergeThreshold: Int = conf.getInt("spark.shuffle.sort.bypassMergeThreshold", 200)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManagerSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManagerSuite.scala
index 55cebe7c8b..f29dac965c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManagerSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleManagerSuite.scala
@@ -85,6 +85,14 @@ class SortShuffleManagerSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Matchers {
       mapSideCombine = false
     )))
 
+    // We support serialized shuffle if we do not need to do map-side aggregation
+    assert(canUseSerializedShuffle(shuffleDep(
+      partitioner = new HashPartitioner(2),
+      serializer = kryo,
+      keyOrdering = None,
+      aggregator = Some(mock(classOf[Aggregator[Any, Any, Any]])),
+      mapSideCombine = false
+    )))
   }
 
   test("unsupported shuffle dependencies for serialized shuffle") {
@@ -111,14 +119,7 @@ class SortShuffleManagerSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Matchers {
       mapSideCombine = false
     )))
 
-    // We do not support shuffles that perform aggregation
-    assert(!canUseSerializedShuffle(shuffleDep(
-      partitioner = new HashPartitioner(2),
-      serializer = kryo,
-      keyOrdering = None,
-      aggregator = Some(mock(classOf[Aggregator[Any, Any, Any]])),
-      mapSideCombine = false
-    )))
+    // We do not support serialized shuffle if we need to do map-side aggregation
     assert(!canUseSerializedShuffle(shuffleDep(
       partitioner = new HashPartitioner(2),
       serializer = kryo,