diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@
 /// type.
 Type getTensorTypeFromMemRefType(Type type);
 
+/// Finds a single dealloc operation for the given allocated value. If there
+/// are > 1 deallocates for `allocValue`, returns None, else returns the single
+/// deallocate if it exists or nullptr.
+Optional<Operation *> findDealloc(Value allocValue);
+
 } // namespace memref
 } // namespace mlir
 
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.h
@@ -16,14 +16,4 @@
 #ifndef MLIR_DIALECT_MEMREF_UTILS_MEMREFUTILS_H
 #define MLIR_DIALECT_MEMREF_UTILS_MEMREFUTILS_H
 
-#include "mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h"
-
-namespace mlir {
-
-/// Finds a single dealloc operation for the given allocated value. If there
-/// are > 1 deallocates for `allocValue`, returns None, else returns the single
-/// deallocate if it exists or nullptr.
-llvm::Optional<Operation *> findDealloc(Value allocValue);
-} // namespace mlir
-
 #endif // MLIR_DIALECT_MEMREF_UTILS_MEMREFUTILS_H
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizationOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizationOps.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizationOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizationOps.cpp
@@ -118,11 +118,12 @@
     // also consider aliases. That would also make the safety check below
     // redundant.
     llvm::Optional<Operation *> maybeCloneDeallocOp =
-        findDealloc(cloneOp.output());
+        memref::findDealloc(cloneOp.output());
     // Skip if either of them has > 1 deallocate operations.
     if (!maybeCloneDeallocOp.hasValue())
       return failure();
-    llvm::Optional<Operation *> maybeSourceDeallocOp = findDealloc(source);
+    llvm::Optional<Operation *> maybeSourceDeallocOp =
+        memref::findDealloc(source);
     if (!maybeSourceDeallocOp.hasValue())
       return failure();
     Operation *cloneDeallocOp = *maybeCloneDeallocOp;
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/BufferUtils.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/BufferUtils.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/BufferUtils.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/BufferUtils.cpp
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
     // Get allocation result.
     Value allocValue = allocateResultEffects[0].getValue();
     // Find the associated dealloc value and register the allocation entry.
-    llvm::Optional<Operation *> dealloc = findDealloc(allocValue);
+    llvm::Optional<Operation *> dealloc = memref::findDealloc(allocValue);
     // If the allocation has > 1 dealloc associated with it, skip handling it.
     if (!dealloc.hasValue())
       return;
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@
   MLIRDialectUtils
   MLIRInferTypeOpInterface
   MLIRIR
-  MLIRMemRefUtils
+  MLIRSideEffectInterfaces
   MLIRViewLikeInterface
 )
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefDialect.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefDialect.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefDialect.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefDialect.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 #include "mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h"
+#include "mlir/Interfaces/SideEffectInterfaces.h"
 #include "mlir/Transforms/InliningUtils.h"
 
 using namespace mlir;
@@ -39,3 +40,28 @@
       >();
   addInterfaces<MemRefInlinerInterface>();
 }
+
+/// Finds a single dealloc operation for the given allocated value.
+llvm::Optional<Operation *> mlir::memref::findDealloc(Value allocValue) {
+  Operation *dealloc = nullptr;
+  for (Operation *user : allocValue.getUsers()) {
+    auto effectInterface = dyn_cast<MemoryEffectOpInterface>(user);
+    if (!effectInterface)
+      continue;
+    // Try to find a free effect that is applied to one of our values
+    // that will be automatically freed by our pass.
+    SmallVector<MemoryEffects::EffectInstance, 2> effects;
+    effectInterface.getEffectsOnValue(allocValue, effects);
+    const bool isFree =
+        llvm::any_of(effects, [&](MemoryEffects::EffectInstance &it) {
+          return isa<MemoryEffects::Free>(it.getEffect());
+        });
+    if (!isFree)
+      continue;
+    // If we found > 1 dealloc, return None.
+    if (dealloc)
+      return llvm::None;
+    dealloc = user;
+  }
+  return dealloc;
+}
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,9 +3,5 @@
 
   ADDITIONAL_HEADER_DIRS
   ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/inlude/mlir/Dialect/MemRefDialect
-
-  LINK_LIBS PUBLIC
-  MLIRIR
-  MLIRSideEffectInterfaces
 )
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.cpp
@@ -11,31 +11,3 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 #include "mlir/Dialect/MemRef/Utils/MemRefUtils.h"
-#include "mlir/Interfaces/SideEffectInterfaces.h"
-
-using namespace mlir;
-
-/// Finds a single dealloc operation for the given allocated value.
-llvm::Optional<Operation *> mlir::findDealloc(Value allocValue) {
-  Operation *dealloc = nullptr;
-  for (Operation *user : allocValue.getUsers()) {
-    auto effectInterface = dyn_cast<MemoryEffectOpInterface>(user);
-    if (!effectInterface)
-      continue;
-    // Try to find a free effect that is applied to one of our values
-    // that will be automatically freed by our pass.
-    SmallVector<MemoryEffects::EffectInstance, 2> effects;
-    effectInterface.getEffectsOnValue(allocValue, effects);
-    const bool isFree =
-        llvm::any_of(effects, [&](MemoryEffects::EffectInstance &it) {
-          return isa<MemoryEffects::Free>(it.getEffect());
-        });
-    if (!isFree)
-      continue;
-    // If we found > 1 dealloc, return None.
-    if (dealloc)
-      return llvm::None;
-    dealloc = user;
-  }
-  return dealloc;
-}