As time wore on the contest appeared to fall apart, with UFC President Dana White claiming Bisping would fight interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next and St-Pierre would get current welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

When Whittaker announced he was injured and Woodley put on a successful title defense against Demian Maia at UFC 214 in July that didn't meet White's standards, he reverted to the initial plan, which St-Pierre and Bisping said they wanted all along.

[13] In turn after the weigh-ins, Cuțelaba was pulled from the event by USADA due to a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from its investigation into voluntary disclosures by Cuțelaba during an out-of-competition sample collections on October 18 and October 19.

[14] A heavyweight bout between Walt Harris and Mark Godbeer was initially slated for UFC 216.

[17] He was replaced by former interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Ovince Saint Preux.