He started wrestling at the age of eight under the coaching of Robert Nersesyan and entered the Yerevan Sports School in 1987.

The following year, Nazaryan won a gold medal at the 1994 European Wrestling Championships, as both a senior and an espoir.

Already a decorated sportsman, Nazaryan was one of the gold medal favorites of the competition in his weight class.

He won a landslide victory in all five fights, defeating reigning World Wrestling Champion Samvel Danielyan, who defeated Nazaryan at the 1995 World Championships final, in the quarterfinals and home country favorite Brandon Paulson in the finals.

Over a year later, Nazaryan became a citizen of Bulgaria and began participating in international competitions for this country instead of his native Armenia.

After defeating three of his first four opponents via grand superiority, Nazaryan successfully advanced to the finals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where he faced the larger, taller and reigning World Wrestling Champion, Kim In-Sub.

[3] After defending his Olympic Championship, Nazaryan moved up in weight again, this time to lightweight (60 kg).

Despite the Olympic upset, Nazaryan won his third World Wrestling Championship gold medal in 2005.

Nazaryan made a comeback at the 2008 European Wrestling Championships, where he came in second place, thus qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Although he defeated reigning World Wrestling Champion David Berdinadze in the first round, Nazaryan competed without any medal success.

After three years of inactivity, Nazaryan returned to sports to attempt to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.