Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi will compete in the hot dog eating contest in September

Joey Chestnut and his old enemy Takeru Kobayashi are going head to head again in a hot dog eating contest – but it won’t be part of the usual Fourth of July event… it’s a Labor Day extravaganza!!

The showdown has been fifteen years in the making – the two last squared off in 2009 during the traditional Nathan’s match at Coney Island… when Jaws defeated Kobayashi to defend his mustard belt.

The timing of the announcement is quite interesting: On Tuesday, Major League Eating announced that Chestnut was EXCLUSIVE for the Independence Day match due to an endorsement agreement he signed with a rival food company.

Just a few weeks ago, Kobayashi – who is 0-3 against Chestnut – claimed he was retired of competitive eating … but he explained in a press release that there is still some unfinished business to take care of before he ties the knot for good.

“For me, retirement won’t happen until I take him out for the last time,” Kobayashi said Wednesday. “This rivalry has been brewing for a long time.”

Chestnut – the 16-time Nathan’s competition champion with 8 straight hot dog wins – also competed, saying, “Throughout all my years in competitive eating, Kobayashi stands out as my biggest rival.”

“Competing against him has made me so much better. I know fans have been waiting a long time for a new chapter of our rivalry and I can’t wait for our huge showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!”

Chestnut and Kobayashi may be major enemies, but they’re both kind of in the same boat now – after all, the latter had a highly publicized feud with MLE in 2010 after the org tried to get him to sign an exclusive contract… and he did never enter the hot dog competition again.

Kobi famously protested that same year… and he was later arrested after storming the stage, despite claiming he just wanted to congratulate Joey on his win.