diff --git a/tests/v1/engine/test_engine_core.py b/tests/v1/engine/test_engine_core.py
index e16e0550c2..2d9f7e8632 100644
--- a/tests/v1/engine/test_engine_core.py
+++ b/tests/v1/engine/test_engine_core.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import copy
 import time
 import uuid
+from collections import deque
 from concurrent.futures import Future, ThreadPoolExecutor
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, PropertyMock, patch
 
@@ -395,6 +396,38 @@ def test_engine_core_concurrent_batches():
         req_id = (req_id + 1) % 2
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("encoder_only", [True, False])
+def test_async_step_skips_sampling_for_mm_encoder_only(encoder_only):
+    """Encoder outputs are complete; only language-model steps need sampling."""
+    core = MagicMock()
+    core.batch_queue = deque()
+    core.batch_queue_size = 2
+    core.is_mm_encoder_only = encoder_only
+    core.is_pooling_model = False
+    core.scheduler.has_requests.side_effect = [True, False, False]
+    scheduled = core.scheduler.schedule.return_value
+    scheduled.total_num_scheduled_tokens = 16
+    scheduled.pending_structured_output_tokens = False
+
+    output = MagicMock()
+    executed: Future[ModelRunnerOutput | None] = Future()
+    executed.set_result(output if encoder_only else None)
+    sampled: Future[ModelRunnerOutput | None] = Future()
+    sampled.set_result(None if encoder_only else output)
+    core.model_executor.execute_model.return_value = executed
+    core.model_executor.sample_tokens.return_value = sampled
+
+    EngineCore.step_with_batch_queue(core)
+    if core.batch_queue:
+        EngineCore.step_with_batch_queue(core)
+
+    core.scheduler.update_from_output.assert_called_once_with(scheduled, output)
+    if encoder_only:
+        core.model_executor.sample_tokens.assert_not_called()
+    else:
+        core.model_executor.sample_tokens.assert_called_once()
+
+
 @multi_gpu_test(num_gpus=2)
 def test_engine_core_tp():
     """Test engine can initialize worker in tp properly."""
diff --git a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_handshake_pp_aggregation.py b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_handshake_pp_aggregation.py
index 509d3d3234..045f6cb425 100644
--- a/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_handshake_pp_aggregation.py
+++ b/tests/v1/kv_connector/unit/test_handshake_pp_aggregation.py
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ def _run_engine_core_handshake(
         ),
         speculative_config=None,
         ec_transfer_config=None,
+        is_mm_encoder_only=False,
         max_concurrent_batches=1,
         model_config=SimpleNamespace(
             runner_type="generate",
diff --git a/vllm/v1/engine/core.py b/vllm/v1/engine/core.py
index b36caf092c..5c09a0059e 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/engine/core.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/engine/core.py
@@ -219,10 +219,7 @@ class EngineCore:
             logger.debug("Batch queue is enabled with size %d", self.batch_queue_size)
             self.batch_queue = deque(maxlen=self.batch_queue_size)
 
-        self.is_ec_consumer = (
-            vllm_config.ec_transfer_config is None
-            or vllm_config.ec_transfer_config.is_ec_consumer
-        )
+        self.is_mm_encoder_only = vllm_config.is_mm_encoder_only
         self.is_pooling_model = vllm_config.model_config.runner_type == "pooling"
 
         self.request_block_hasher: Callable[[Request], list[BlockHash]] | None = None
@@ -702,7 +699,7 @@ class EngineCore:
                 exec_future = self.model_executor.execute_model(
                     scheduler_output, non_block=True
                 )
-            if self.is_ec_consumer:
+            if not self.is_mm_encoder_only:
                 model_executed = scheduler_output.total_num_scheduled_tokens > 0
 
             if self.is_pooling_model or not model_executed: