Kobayashi Is Out of This Year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
When Nathan's stages its 95th annual hot dog eating contest on July 4, it will do so without the participation of Takeru Kobayashi, the 160-pound six-time hot dog eating champion.
According to Metropolis, Kobayashi isn't competing because of a contractual dispute with Major League Eating, the world body that oversees all professional eating competitions. No one is commenting on the matter, but what seems to be beyond speculation is that the Japanese eating machine will be sorely missed by his fans -- if not by Joey Chestnut, who counted Kobayashi as his fiercest rival and can be seen in this video stealing victory from him in the 2007 Nathan's contest.
[Via Grub Street]
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