diff --git a/controllers/nginx/nginx.tmpl b/controllers/nginx/nginx.tmpl
index ffff49583..4c4393df2 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/controllers/nginx/nginx.tmpl
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ http {
 
     # default server, including healthcheck
     server {
-        listen 8080 default_server reuseport backlog={{ .backlogSize }};
+        listen 18080 default_server reuseport backlog={{ .backlogSize }};
 
         location /healthz {
             access_log off;
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/nginx/command.go b/controllers/nginx/nginx/command.go
index 9ea331194..39512670a 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/nginx/command.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/nginx/command.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func (ngx Manager) Name() string {
 
 // Check returns if the nginx healthz endpoint is returning ok (status code 200)
 func (ngx Manager) Check(_ *http.Request) error {
-	res, err := http.Get("http://127.0.0.1:8080/healthz")
+	res, err := http.Get("http://127.0.0.1:18080/healthz")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/rc.yaml b/controllers/nginx/rc.yaml
index 65144c3d0..3d449b0c4 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/rc.yaml
+++ b/controllers/nginx/rc.yaml
@@ -93,10 +93,10 @@ spec:
           hostPort: 80
         - containerPort: 443
           hostPort: 443
-        # we expose 8080 to access nginx stats in url /nginx-status
+        # we expose 18080 to access nginx stats in url /nginx-status
         # this is optional
-        - containerPort: 8080
-          hostPort: 8080
+        - containerPort: 18080
+          hostPort: 18080
         args:
         - /nginx-ingress-controller
         - --default-backend-service=default/default-http-backend