Michael Bisping won the UFC middleweight title at UFC 199 in June of 2016. He defended the belt against 13th-ranked Dan Henderson in October, and then...nothing. Bisping had been out injured, and eventually a bout was set up with Georges St-Pierre, who has never fought at middleweight before. Even that bout was scrapped due to another knee surgery for Bisping and an eye injury for GSP. Bisping hopes to return before the end of the year.
So you can understand why some people, when they saw the UFC’s statement about Germaine de Randamie getting stripped of the UFC women’s featherweight title, immediately thought that Bisping might fit into the same category.