IN BRIEF

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

New York lawmakers argue legalizing sport

Mixed martial arts moved closer to New York arenas Wednesday after lawmakers touting tax revenue and safety rules squared off with colleagues decrying the sport's contribution to an American culture of violence.

Now legal in 38 states, fight organizers see New York as a major market for live shows. The state, which is trying to dig out of a fiscal crisis, would get a share of the money from tickets sold at major venues such as Madison Square Garden.

A state Assembly committee that killed the measure a year ago agreed Wednesday to move it to the floor for a vote.

Assemblyman Robert Reilly of Albany County, the bill's chief opponent, acknowledged afterward that it will be difficult to stop it now.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, which dominates the sport of mixed martial arts, estimated total direct spending at a Buffalo event at $1.7 million, generating $320,000 in total state tax revenue. The estimates rises to nearly $1 million in tax revenue for a New York City event generating some $5.7 million in direct spending.

SOCCER

U.S. squad loses 3-1 to Costa Rica in qualifier

Alvaro Saborio scored 79 seconds in, the second-fastest goal against the United States in a World Cup qualifier, and Costa Rica coasted to a 3-1 win in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Celso Borges added a goal in the 13th minute, and Pablo Herrera sealed the victory for 41st-ranked Costa Rica when he made the score 3-0 in the 69th.

Landon Donovan scored the U.S. goal when he converted a penalty kick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time.

The Ticos shredded the defense of the region's top-ranked team, and the United States stumbled for the second straight time in Central America.

Also: The leader of soccer's governing body urged nations to avoid treating fans like "prisoners and wild animals" by using fences to hold them back in cramped stadiums.

"We have to go to the causes of some of the tragedies or accidents that happen," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said.

Nine fans were killed June 1, 2008, at a World Cup qualifier in Liberia when a metal barrier gave way in an overcrowded stadium. On March 29, as many as 22 died in a stampede shortly before another Cup qualifying match between Ivory Coast and Malawi.

MISCELLANEOUS

UNLV runners head to NCAA championships

UNLV's Lekeisha Lawson earned an at-large bid to compete in the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., next week.

Lawson took seventh at last weekend's West Regional with a time of 23.86.

She joins teammate Candise Maxwell, who earned an automatic berth at regionals with her fifth-place finish of 13.48 seconds in the 100 hurdles.

Also: Hall of Famer Brian Voss retained his lead with a 4,074 18-game pinfall (226.3 average) after the third round of qualifying in the Professional Bowlers Association Senior U.S. Open at the Suncoast Bowling Center.

The 269-player field has been cut to the top 67 players who will advance to a nine-game qualifying round this morning.

David Haye has pulled out of his June 20 IBF and WBO heavyweight title fight against Wladimir Klitschko because of an injury. The nature of the injury was not immediately known.

Four middle-school students in the Tampa, Fla., area have been charged as adults with sexually assaulting a younger flag-football teammate in a locker room. The teens are accused of holding down a 13-year-old classmate and assaulting him with a broomstick and hockey stick.

Former Indianapolis 500 driver Bob Christie has died. He was 85.