I messed up “Episode” and “Season” in my last headline. Oops. Anyway, it’s Season 14, Episode 9.

Dustin Pague and his Mayhem teammates drop off a bag of food for a needy guy they’ve seen on their route to and from the training center. Nice.

Dustin also has a fight coming up, and Mayhem says he has dramatically improved. The game plan: Move around a lot, create angles, stay away from TJ Dillashaw’s straight-ahead punches and takedown efforts. Also, God’s plan will prevail.

Mayhem and his coaches stop by the house for a cookout. “They’re like castaways on an Internet-less island.” So it went into a “Joe Rogan Fear Factor” exercise to get Dustin to eat a bug. He does so, and Mayhem pays $60. “It was like biting into a rock,” Dustin said. In his confessional, he says he’s usually scared of bugs. “What is WRONG with me?”

Up to the roof of the Palms, where the coaches will play air hockey. Bisping says he plays with kids but always lets them win. Mayhem says he probably played last in fourth grade.

The fighters’ share of the challenge is up to $1,500. No pressure, Mayhem.

The first point seems to go for about 10 minutes. Then we get a montage of Bisping racing to a 6-0 lead. First game is 7-1. Then 7-4 in Game 2. Bisping gets too wrapped up in trash talk and drops Game 3, but he recovers to win Game 4 and clinch the challenge. He celebrates by standing on the table to celebrate. Then he falls as he steps off. Fortunately, they’re not right on the ledge at the Palms.

Next up is the weigh-in, which points to a long fight between Dustin and TJ. Anyone else find it odd that TJ is getting such scant screen time? Some of his teammates accused him of ducking tough fights, and we’ve barely heard a peep out of him. He really hasn’t gotten a chance to give his bio. From my recap of his quarterfinal bout: “TJ was a college wrestler at Cal State Fullerton. We aren’t told anything particularly interesting about him. That might not be an editing oversight.”

Would TJ possibly make it to the final after getting virtually no exposure during the season? Or have they tipped their hand here?

New TUF effect – a little bit of slo-mo as Dustin walks into the cage.

Incidentally, if you’re keeping score at home, Mayhem has currently a 6-3 lead with three head-to-head bouts remaining. If Dustin wins this, Mayhem cleans up. He would be guaranteed the bantamweight title, with Johnny Bedford facing John Dodson in the other semi.

But Round 1 starts as we’d expect. TJ looks a little better in the standup, and he takes Dustin down. Dustin has a good active guard and punches from his back, but TJ lands solid elbows.

One note about this season — we don’t have a lot of random shouting in the gym during these fights, so we hear nearly every word from Bisping and Mayhem. That’s an improvement over past seasons. Both coaches offer constructive comments.

Dustin needs more than Mayhem’s advice. He nearly escapes with about 90 seconds left but can’t get away. He finally stands in the final minute and lands a good knee, but it’s far too late to salvage the round.

In Round 2, TJ needs just 20 seconds to take Dustin down against the cage. Remember all those great explosive fights we had early in this season? Now we have bantamweight lay-and-pray. But TJ’s active, advancing to side control and landing some punches, then knees to the ribs. Dustin re-establishes guard but takes a big elbow to the face.

Round 3 is interesting only in the sense that Bisping is actually giving point-by-point grappling instructions, which many people wouldn’t have thought possible. But it’s basically the kind of fight we were really hoping not to see this season.

Unanimous decision for TJ. Dana and both coaches are complimentary. Dana also says Dustin was putting forth a solid effort despite being overmatched, and Bisping agrees. Can’t really blame the fighters — just a bad matchup.

No trash-talk, no pranks … wait … the dressing room door now says “Tea Bisping.” That’s cute. But it looks like the nastiness has subsided. Very strange to see that at this stage of a TUF season.

We will NOT have an episode next week. The last two semifinals will air Nov. 30, three days before the finale. And then that’ll be it for Spike.