The year 2022 was a truly breakthrough year for NAIZA. The league not only held 12 tournaments, but also launched several large-scale projects that took it to a new level.  

The year began with NAIZA 37 and ended with NAIZA 48, during which new champions wrote their names in history. Champion belts were won by Serik Razgaliev (NAIZA 37), Olzhas Abzaliev (NAIZA 40), Ruslan Shamilov (NAIZA 41), Magomed Kabardiev (NAIZA 44), Hussein Adamov and Sayfulla Dzhabrailov (NAIZA 45), Kazbek Sagin (NAIZA 48).  

One of the main events of the year was the co-hosting of NAIZA 41 with the EAGLE league founded by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Shamil Zaburov. The tournament in Aktau attracted 15,000 spectators, becoming the largest in the history of the organization.  

The popularity of NAIZA grew rapidly, and in 2022 the interest in the league reached the international level. The main fight of NAIZA 44 between Aydin Kodek and Su Yong Yoo for the championship belt was simultaneously watched by 207 thousand people, and the total coverage of the tournament amounted to 2.5 million spectators.  

The league continued to develop the MMA industry in the country and organized the NAIZA AWARDS for the first time. Winners were selected in ten categories, and Әlibi Idiris was recognized as the best fighter of the year.  

NAIZA launched a new unique project – a team Grand Prix with a prize fund of 25 million tenge. It gave young fighters an opportunity to make themselves known. Samandar Ruzmatov, Akan Koshen and Abu Nurbolat are among the promising athletes who revealed themselves in this tournament.  

The highlight of the year was BATYRBALL, a new format combining wrestling and basketball in an MMA cage. The project caused a huge stir, and one of the videos from the tournament became a global hit, gaining hundreds of millions of views in just one week. It was shared by giants like ESPN and Shaquille O’Neal.

BATYRBALL has caught the attention of not only viewers, but also famous fighters. One of the tournaments featured students of legendary trainer Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

The year 2022 was a landmark year for NAIZA in the world rankings as well. In Fight Matrix, the league rose even higher, taking 25th place among the top 350 organizations in the world.