diff --git a/testing/simapp/upgrades.go b/testing/simapp/upgrades.go
index 81b4902da4c..58139ee6271 100644
--- a/testing/simapp/upgrades.go
+++ b/testing/simapp/upgrades.go
@@ -55,7 +55,15 @@ func (app *SimApp) registerUpgradeHandlers() {
 
 	app.UpgradeKeeper.SetUpgradeHandler(
 		upgrades.V8,
-		upgrades.CreateV8UpgradeHandler(
+		upgrades.CreateDefaultUpgradeHandler(
+			app.ModuleManager,
+			app.configurator,
+		),
+	)
+
+	app.UpgradeKeeper.SetUpgradeHandler(
+		upgrades.V8_1,
+		upgrades.CreateDefaultUpgradeHandler(
 			app.ModuleManager,
 			app.configurator,
 		),
diff --git a/testing/simapp/upgrades/upgrades.go b/testing/simapp/upgrades/upgrades.go
index ff9b6579560..03ddbb75502 100644
--- a/testing/simapp/upgrades/upgrades.go
+++ b/testing/simapp/upgrades/upgrades.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ const (
 	V7_1 = "v7.1"
 	// V8 defines the upgrade name for the ibc-go/v8 upgrade handler.
 	V8 = "v8"
+	// V8_1 defines the upgrade name for the ibc-go/v8.1 upgrade handler.
+	V8_1 = "v8.1"
 )
 
 // CreateDefaultUpgradeHandler creates an upgrade handler which can be used for regular upgrade tests
@@ -107,10 +109,3 @@ func CreateV7LocalhostUpgradeHandler(
 		return mm.RunMigrations(ctx, configurator, vm)
 	}
 }
-
-// CreateV8UpgradeHandler creates an upgrade handler for the ibc-go/v8 SimApp upgrade.
-func CreateV8UpgradeHandler(mm *module.Manager, configurator module.Configurator) upgradetypes.UpgradeHandler {
-	return func(ctx context.Context, _ upgradetypes.Plan, vm module.VersionMap) (module.VersionMap, error) {
-		return mm.RunMigrations(ctx, configurator, vm)
-	}
-}