diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/MasterRpcServices.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/MasterRpcServices.java
index e1c21c6e5036..9fd0dc72832b 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/MasterRpcServices.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/MasterRpcServices.java
@@ -812,10 +812,6 @@ public MergeTableRegionsResponse mergeTableRegions(
 
     RegionStates regionStates = master.getAssignmentManager().getRegionStates();
 
-    if (request.getRegionCount() != 2) {
-      throw new ServiceException(new DoNotRetryIOException(
-        "Only support merging 2 regions but " + request.getRegionCount() + " region passed"));
-    }
     RegionInfo[] regionsToMerge = new RegionInfo[request.getRegionCount()];
     for (int i = 0; i < request.getRegionCount(); i++) {
       final byte[] encodedNameOfRegion = request.getRegion(i).getValue().toByteArray();
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/RegionStateStore.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/RegionStateStore.java
index 2865905dd248..69bc8f70aa56 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/RegionStateStore.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/assignment/RegionStateStore.java
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.SortedMap;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CellBuilderFactory;
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public void mergeRegions(RegionInfo child, RegionInfo [] parents, ServerName ser
       throws IOException {
     TableDescriptor htd = getDescriptor(child.getTable());
     boolean globalScope = htd.hasGlobalReplicationScope();
-    Map<RegionInfo, Long> parentSeqNums = new HashMap<>(parents.length);
+    SortedMap<RegionInfo, Long> parentSeqNums = new TreeMap<>();
     for (RegionInfo ri: parents) {
       parentSeqNums.put(ri, globalScope? getOpenSeqNumForParentRegion(ri): -1);
     }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestSplitMerge.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestSplitMerge.java
index 641e52e1155b..0aa329784ed6 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestSplitMerge.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestSplitMerge.java
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Waiter.ExplainingPredicate;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.AsyncConnection;
@@ -104,4 +106,51 @@ public String explainFailure() throws Exception {
         .getRegionLocation(Bytes.toBytes(1), true).get().getServerName());
     }
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testMergeRegionOrder() throws Exception {
+
+    int regionCount= 20;
+
+    TableName tableName = TableName.valueOf("MergeRegionOrder");
+    byte[] family = Bytes.toBytes("CF");
+    TableDescriptor td = TableDescriptorBuilder.newBuilder(tableName)
+        .setColumnFamily(ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.of(family)).build();
+
+    byte[][] splitKeys = new byte[regionCount-1][];
+
+    for (int c = 0; c < regionCount-1; c++) {
+      splitKeys[c] = Bytes.toBytes(c+1 * 1000);
+    }
+
+    UTIL.getAdmin().createTable(td, splitKeys);
+    UTIL.waitTableAvailable(tableName);
+
+    List<RegionInfo> regions = UTIL.getAdmin().getRegions(tableName);
+
+    byte[][] regionNames = new byte[regionCount][];
+    for (int c = 0; c < regionCount; c++) {
+      regionNames[c] = regions.get(c).getRegionName();
+    }
+
+    UTIL.getAdmin().mergeRegionsAsync(regionNames, false).get(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+    List<RegionInfo> mergedRegions =
+        MetaTableAccessor.getTableRegions(UTIL.getConnection(), tableName);
+
+    assertEquals(1, mergedRegions.size());
+
+    RegionInfo mergedRegion = mergedRegions.get(0);
+
+    List<RegionInfo> mergeParentRegions = MetaTableAccessor.getMergeRegions(UTIL.getConnection(),
+      mergedRegion.getEncodedNameAsBytes());
+
+    assertEquals(mergeParentRegions.size(), regionCount);
+
+    for (int c = 0; c < regionCount-1; c++) {
+      assertTrue(Bytes.compareTo(
+        mergeParentRegions.get(c).getStartKey(),
+        mergeParentRegions.get(c+1).getStartKey()) < 0);
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAdmin1.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAdmin1.java
index d08c5d461ca4..df496d7cc567 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAdmin1.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAdmin1.java
@@ -588,15 +588,6 @@ public void testMergeRegionsInvalidRegionCount()
       } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
         // expected
       }
-      // 3
-      try {
-        FutureUtils.get(ADMIN.mergeRegionsAsync(
-          tableRegions.stream().map(RegionInfo::getEncodedNameAsBytes).toArray(byte[][]::new),
-          false));
-        fail();
-      } catch (DoNotRetryIOException e) {
-        // expected
-      }
     } finally {
       ADMIN.disableTable(tableName);
       ADMIN.deleteTable(tableName);
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncRegionAdminApi2.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncRegionAdminApi2.java
index 7d6d2e093e5c..8616ed565b55 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncRegionAdminApi2.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncRegionAdminApi2.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.AsyncMetaTableAccessor;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.DoNotRetryIOException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HRegionLocation;
@@ -205,16 +204,6 @@ public void testMergeRegionsInvalidRegionCount() throws Exception {
       // expected
       assertThat(e.getCause(), instanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class));
     }
-    // 3
-    try {
-      admin.mergeRegions(
-        regions.stream().map(RegionInfo::getEncodedNameAsBytes).collect(Collectors.toList()), false)
-        .get();
-      fail();
-    } catch (ExecutionException e) {
-      // expected
-      assertThat(e.getCause(), instanceOf(DoNotRetryIOException.class));
-    }
   }
 
   @Test