diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.td b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.td
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.td
@@ -890,6 +890,27 @@
         return b.createOperation(state);
       }]
     >,
+    InterfaceMethod<
+      /*desc=*/[{
+        Clone the current operation with the given location, operands
+        and BlockAndValueMapping but leave the regions empty. This is
+        used to abstract away the optional underlying region creation.
+        This does not change the balance between input, output_buffer
+        and init_tensors operands.
+      }],
+      /*retTy=*/"Operation *",
+      /*methodName=*/"cloneWithoutRegions",
+      (ins "OpBuilder &":$b, "Location":$loc, "TypeRange":$resultTypes,
+           "ValueRange":$operands),
+      [{
+        OperationState state(
+          loc, ConcreteOp::getOperationName(), operands, resultTypes,
+          $_op->getAttrs());
+        for (size_t cnt = 0, e = $_op->getNumRegions(); cnt < e; ++cnt)
+          state.addRegion();
+        return b.createOperation(state);
+      }]
+    >,
     StaticInterfaceMethod<
       /*desc=*/[{
         Returns the region builder for constructing the body for linalg.generic.
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
@@ -79,38 +79,17 @@
 mlir::linalg::createLinalgOpOnBuffers(ConversionPatternRewriter &rewriter,
                                       LinalgOp linalgOp, ValueRange inputs,
                                       ValueRange outputs) {
-  if (auto genericOp = mlir::dyn_cast<GenericOp>(*linalgOp)) {
-    // Generate a new linalg operation that works on buffers.
-    auto newGenericOp = rewriter.create<GenericOp>(
-        genericOp.getLoc(),
-        /*resultTensorTypes=*/llvm::None,
-        /*inputs=*/inputs,
-        /*outputs=*/outputs, genericOp.indexing_maps(),
-        genericOp.iterator_types(), genericOp.docAttr(),
-        genericOp.library_callAttr());
-
-    // Create a new block in the region of the new Generic Op.
-    Block *oldBlock = genericOp.getBody();
-    Region &newRegion = newGenericOp.region();
-    Block *newBlock = rewriter.createBlock(&newRegion, newRegion.begin(),
-                                           oldBlock->getArgumentTypes());
-
-    // Clone the body of the old block to the new block.
-    BlockAndValueMapping mapping;
-    mapping.map(oldBlock->getArguments(), newBlock->getArguments());
-
-    OpBuilder::InsertionGuard guard(rewriter);
-    rewriter.setInsertionPointToEnd(newBlock);
-    for (auto &op : oldBlock->getOperations()) {
-      Operation *clonedOp = rewriter.clone(op, mapping);
-      mapping.map(op.getResults(), clonedOp->getResults());
-    }
-    return newGenericOp;
-  }
   SmallVector<Value, 8> newOperands = inputs;
   newOperands.append(outputs.begin(), outputs.end());
-  return linalgOp.clone(rewriter, linalgOp.getLoc(),
-                        /*resultTypes=*/ArrayRef<Type>{}, newOperands);
+  auto *newOp = linalgOp.cloneWithoutRegions(rewriter, linalgOp.getLoc(),
+                                             /*resultTypes=*/ArrayRef<Type>{},
+                                             newOperands);
+  for (auto regions : llvm::zip(linalgOp->getRegions(), newOp->getRegions())) {
+    auto &oldRegion = std::get<0>(regions);
+    auto &newRegion = std::get<1>(regions);
+    rewriter.inlineRegionBefore(oldRegion, newRegion, newRegion.begin());
+  }
+  return newOp;
 }
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -344,9 +323,8 @@
     BufferizeTypeConverter typeConverter;
 
     // Mark all Standard operations legal.
-    target.addLegalDialect<AffineDialect, math::MathDialect,
-                           memref::MemRefDialect, StandardOpsDialect,
-                           tensor::TensorDialect>();
+    target.addLegalDialect<AffineDialect, memref::MemRefDialect,
+                           StandardOpsDialect, tensor::TensorDialect>();
     target.addIllegalOp<InitTensorOp, tensor::ExtractSliceOp,
                         tensor::InsertSliceOp, PadTensorOp>();
 
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/Linalg/bufferize.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/Linalg/bufferize.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/Linalg/bufferize.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/Linalg/bufferize.mlir
@@ -316,3 +316,16 @@
   // CHECK: vector.transfer_read {{.*}} : memref<4xf32>, vector<4xf32>
   // CHECK: vector.transfer_write {{.*}} : vector<4xf32>, memref<4xf32>
 }
+
+// -----
+
+// CHECK-LABEL:   func @bufferize_dot
+func @bufferize_dot(%in: tensor<4xf32>, %out: tensor<f32>) -> tensor<f32> {
+  %dot = linalg.dot ins(%in, %in : tensor<4xf32>, tensor<4xf32>)
+                          outs(%out : tensor<f32>) -> tensor<f32>
+  return %dot : tensor<f32>
+  // CHECK: linalg.dot ins(%{{.*}}, %{{.*}} : memref<4xf32>, memref<4xf32>)
+  // CHECK-SAME:       outs(%[[OUT:.*]] : memref<f32>)
+  // CHECK: %[[OUT_TENSOR:.*]] = memref.tensor_load %[[OUT]] : memref<f32>
+  // CHECK: return %[[OUT_TENSOR]]
+}