Autumn arrives and with it comes the end of the WNBA season. In 2025, the Las Vegas Aces won the championship, and since then, with the final buzzer, the lights of the professional women’s league have gone out.
That is why the players themselves created a league that would give fans of their play a place to take refuge while the WNBA returned to action. That is how Unrivaled was born.
Some facts about Unrivaled:
- It was founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier
- It launched on May 30, 2024
- It offers high salaries for women’s professional sports
- The first season began on January 17, 2025
- In February 2025 the 1-on-1 tournament took place, won by founder Collier
- On March 17, 2025, Rose BC was crowned champion
- On January 5, 2026, the second season began with 36 players instead of 30
- On January 30 it broke the attendance record with 21,490 spectators in Philadelphia
- The final is scheduled for March 4
Rickea Jackson will no longer compete in Unrivaled
After a difficult start to the week, the Los Angeles Sparks player was announced as a new addition to Unrivaled. This will help her clear her mind and forget the harassment from her ex-partner, Atlanta Falcons player James Pearce Jr.
It should be remembered that the NFL player was arrested in Miami-Dade County. Reports said that on several occasions he rammed Jackson’s car and also tried to block her access to the police offices.
The two had a relationship that lasted three years until the WNBA player ended it. They met while studying at the University of Tennessee between 2022 and 2024.
In the statement she gave to police, the player was emphatic about what had happened between them, but the Falcons player did not listen.
Leave her alone.
That was what was recorded in the statement so he would stay away from her. Later he contacted her using another phone number to locate her and began following her in his car to crash into her.
This bitter experience that Rickea went through is something that let her out of the tournament expected to be played this week. Unfortunately, the player has other thing to take of.
The Unrivaled 1-on-1 event
This side event within Unrivaled has given the league tremendous exposure. It has attracted a significant number of followers, with 377,000 people watching the semifinal and the final. Fans really enjoy seeing those one-on-one duels between the players.
- Games are played to 11 points or a maximum of 10 minutes
- This Wednesday, February 11, 2026, is round one, followed by the second round and semifinals on Friday the 13th, and the final scheduled for Saturday the 14th
- The final is played as a best of three games, each to seven points
- The champion will take $200,000, second place $50,000, and third place $25,000
Sixteen players will be competing to be number one, among them:
- Chelsea Gray
- Aaliyah Edwards
- Rae Burrell
- Arike Ogunbowale
- Courtney Williams
- Paige Bueckers
- Kelsey Mitchell
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