diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index a32f37f22fca..14de8d739066 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.14.0
 	github.com/prometheus/client_model v0.3.0
 	github.com/prometheus/common v0.37.0
-	github.com/prometheus/prometheus v0.39.1
 	github.com/sethvargo/go-retry v0.2.3
 	github.com/slok/go-http-metrics v0.10.0
 	github.com/soheilhy/cmux v0.1.5
@@ -114,7 +113,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/golang/groupcache v0.0.0-20210331224755-41bb18bfe9da // indirect
 	github.com/google/gnostic v0.5.7-v3refs // indirect
 	github.com/google/gofuzz v1.2.0 // indirect
-	github.com/grafana/regexp v0.0.0-20220304095617-2e8d9baf4ac2 // indirect
 	github.com/gruntwork-io/go-commons v0.8.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/errwrap v1.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 980cc5ce5e59..079f4b72fca8 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -727,8 +727,6 @@ github.com/gorilla/mux v1.7.4/go.mod h1:DVbg23sWSpFRCP0SfiEN6jmj59UnW/n46BH5rLB7
 github.com/gorilla/websocket v0.0.0-20170926233335-4201258b820c/go.mod h1:E7qHFY5m1UJ88s3WnNqhKjPHQ0heANvMoAMk2YaljkQ=
 github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.4.0/go.mod h1:E7qHFY5m1UJ88s3WnNqhKjPHQ0heANvMoAMk2YaljkQ=
 github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.4.2/go.mod h1:YR8l580nyteQvAITg2hZ9XVh4b55+EU/adAjf1fMHhE=
-github.com/grafana/regexp v0.0.0-20220304095617-2e8d9baf4ac2 h1:uirlL/j72L93RhV4+mkWhjv0cov2I0MIgPOG9rMDr1k=
-github.com/grafana/regexp v0.0.0-20220304095617-2e8d9baf4ac2/go.mod h1:M5qHK+eWfAv8VR/265dIuEpL3fNfeC21tXXp9itM24A=
 github.com/gregjones/httpcache v0.0.0-20180305231024-9cad4c3443a7/go.mod h1:FecbI9+v66THATjSRHfNgh1IVFe/9kFxbXtjV0ctIMA=
 github.com/grpc-ecosystem/go-grpc-middleware v1.0.0/go.mod h1:FiyG127CGDf3tlThmgyCl78X/SZQqEOJBCDaAfeWzPs=
 github.com/grpc-ecosystem/go-grpc-middleware v1.0.1-0.20190118093823-f849b5445de4/go.mod h1:FiyG127CGDf3tlThmgyCl78X/SZQqEOJBCDaAfeWzPs=
@@ -1207,8 +1205,6 @@ github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.7.3/go.mod h1:cz+aTbrPOrUb4q7XlbU9ygM+/jj0fzG6c1
 github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.8.0 h1:ODq8ZFEaYeCaZOJlZZdJA2AbQR98dSHSM1KW/You5mo=
 github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.8.0/go.mod h1:z7EfXMXOkbkqb9IINtpCn86r/to3BnA0uaxHdg830/4=
 github.com/prometheus/prom2json v1.1.0/go.mod h1:v7OY1795b9fEUZgq4UU2+15YjRv0LfpxKejIQCy3L7o=
-github.com/prometheus/prometheus v0.39.1 h1:abZM6A+sKAv2eKTbRIaHq4amM/nT07MuxRm0+QTaTj0=
-github.com/prometheus/prometheus v0.39.1/go.mod h1:GjQjgLhHMc0oo4Ko7qt/yBSJMY4hUoiAZwsYQgjaePA=
 github.com/prometheus/tsdb v0.7.1/go.mod h1:qhTCs0VvXwvX/y3TZrWD7rabWM+ijKTux40TwIPHuXU=
 github.com/rcrowley/go-metrics v0.0.0-20181016184325-3113b8401b8a/go.mod h1:bCqnVzQkZxMG4s8nGwiZ5l3QUCyqpo9Y+/ZMZ9VjZe4=
 github.com/remyoudompheng/bigfft v0.0.0-20190728182440-6a916e37a237/go.mod h1:qqbHyh8v60DhA7CoWK5oRCqLrMHRGoxYCSS9EjAz6Eo=
diff --git a/pkg/mads/util.go b/pkg/mads/util.go
index 3c98678c938b..f018c6e0fdc2 100644
--- a/pkg/mads/util.go
+++ b/pkg/mads/util.go
@@ -3,11 +3,10 @@ package mads
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
-	prom_util "github.com/prometheus/prometheus/util/strutil"
-
 	mesh_proto "github.com/kumahq/kuma/api/mesh/v1alpha1"
 	core_mesh "github.com/kumahq/kuma/pkg/core/resources/apis/mesh"
 	"github.com/kumahq/kuma/pkg/xds/topology"
@@ -44,17 +43,17 @@ func DataplaneLabels(dataplane *core_mesh.DataplaneResource, meshGateways []*cor
 			value = values[0]
 		}
 		// while in general case a tag might have multiple values, we want to optimize for a single-value scenario
-		labels[prom_util.SanitizeLabelName(key)] = value
+		labels[sanitizeLabelName(key)] = value
 		// additionally, we also support a multi-value scenario by automatically pluralizing label name,
 		// e.g. `service => services`, `version => versions`, etc.
 		// if it happens that a user defined both `service` and `services` tags,
 		// user-defined `services` tag will override auto-generated one (since keys are iterated in a sorted order)
 		plural := fmt.Sprintf("%ss", key)
-		labels[prom_util.SanitizeLabelName(plural)] = MultiValue(values)
+		labels[sanitizeLabelName(plural)] = MultiValue(values)
 	}
 	// then, we turn name extensions into labels
 	for key, value := range dataplane.GetMeta().GetNameExtensions() {
-		labels[prom_util.SanitizeLabelName(key)] = value
+		labels[sanitizeLabelName(key)] = value
 	}
 
 	if dataplane.Spec.IsBuiltinGateway() {
@@ -73,3 +72,12 @@ func DataplaneAssignmentName(dataplane *core_mesh.DataplaneResource) string {
 	// unique name, e.g. REST API uri
 	return fmt.Sprintf("/meshes/%s/dataplanes/%s", dataplane.Meta.GetMesh(), dataplane.Meta.GetName())
 }
+
+var invalidLabelCharRE = regexp.MustCompile(`[^a-zA-Z0-9_]`)
+
+// SanitizeLabelName replaces anything that doesn't match
+// client_label.LabelNameRE with an underscore.
+// taken from: https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/blob/d437f0bb6b53ec8594a43b871f92252980b13ddd/util/strutil/strconv.go#L40-L47
+func sanitizeLabelName(name string) string {
+	return invalidLabelCharRE.ReplaceAllString(name, "_")
+}