One of sports’ greatest rivalries will be reignited this Labor Day.
Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi will face off in a hot dog eating contest to determine who is the greatest frankfurter eater of all time in a showdown that will stream live on Netflix on Sept. 2, the streamer announced on Wednesday.
The announcement of the “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef” special comes a mere 24 hours after The Post broke the news that Chestnut was banned from the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest on Coney Island held on the Fourth of July.
The two competitive eaters have not faced off in a hot dog eating contest since 2009 when Chestnut defeated Kobayashi in a sudden-death eat-off.
Chestnut, 40, and Kobayashi, 46, have a combined 22 hot dog-eating championships, and their fierce battles became a thing of legend in Major League Eating.
“Through all of my years in competitive eating, Kobayashi stands out as my fiercest rival,” Chestnut said in a statement. “Competing against him pushed me to be so much better. I know that fans have waited a long time for another chapter of our rivalry and I can’t wait for our massive showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!”
Kobayashi won six straight Nathan’s hot dog eating competitions from 2001-06 but was banned from the competition due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating, which sanctions the annual contest.
He appeared to announce his retirement earlier this year in a Netflix documentary, but Wednesday’s release alluded to that just being a “rumor.”
“Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one last time,” Kobayashi said. “This rivalry has been brewing for a long time. Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.”
The location and time of the event have not been announced and it is unknown what Netflix will pay Chestnut and Kobayashi for competing against one another.
The announcement is the latest turn into live sports for the streamer, which has put more than just a toe into the live sports streaming game.
Netflix announced that it had come to terms on a deal with the NFL to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day this year and had been scheduled to stream a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
The streamer will air “WWE Raw” weekly starting in 2025.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
