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ESPN.com- Tim Kavanagh is a senior editor for ESPN digital editorial. He's a native of upstate New York.
The GOAT is back in action Saturday.
The GOAT of competitive eating, that is: Joey Chestnut. Competing under probation after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge, the 17-time champion is on Coney Island for the July Fourth holiday to recapture the Mustard Belt in the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Unfamiliar with Chestnut's résumé? Major League Eating's official website sums it up bluntly: "Joey Chestnut is the greatest eater in history. That is not empty editorializing or bloviating. That is empirical fact. Members of the media and members of the scientific community are warmly invited to conduct their own independent analysis; MLE is confident that you will come to the same conclusions."
ESPN accepted this challenge. We found it difficult to refute. Chestnut -- who has won every edition of the competition he has competed in since 2015 -- is, in short, the foremost frankfurter eater of all time.
As he goes for his 18th Mustard Belt on Saturday (noon ET on ESPN2), he is an overwhelming favorite. There's good reason for that. Here's a look at some of the numbers behind Chestnut's run of dominance:
Joey Chestnut by the numbers
The 11 highest totals in the event belong to Chestnut, and his 76 hot dogs eaten in 2021 is the record. Nobody has ever eaten more than 70 hot dogs in the event ... except for Chestnut, who has done it -- buns included -- seven times, including in 2025. But he doesn't just devour hot dogs: He holds the Major League Eating record in over 50 different categories, including chicken wings (182 in 30 minutes), hard-boiled eggs (141 in eight minutes), grilled cheese sandwiches (47 in 10 minutes) and Twinkies (121 in six minutes). He most recently added a world record in the discipline of Padrino tamales to his résumé, consuming 96 tamales in 10 minutes.
1284.5: Since 2005, Chestnut has eaten 1284.5 hot dogs and buns in the event.
8670.375/722.531: The competition dogs from Nathan's are 6.75 inches long. The total length of hot dogs eaten by Chestnut equates to 8670.375 inches, or 722.531 feet.
By comparison:
Distance of Aaron Judge's longest home run: 496 feet.
Distance to straightaway center at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium: 408 feet.
Height of the Statue of Liberty: 305 feet (and 1 inch).
158.583: Each Nathan's hot dog in the competition weighs 56 grams. That means Chestnut has eaten over 158 pounds of hot dogs during his performances on July Fourth. Therefore, Chestnut has eaten a weight equivalent to a UFC lightweight fighter.
In 2025, Chestnut ate 70.5 hot dogs and buns. Each amounts to 270 calories, meaning Chestnut consumed 19,035 calories in 10 minutes. In his competition career, he has eaten over 345,000 calories in hot dogs alone.
By comparison:
Daily calories eaten by Michael Phelps in training for the 2008 Olympics: 10,000, according to Olympics.com.
Calories burned daily by polar bears: 12,234, according to Science magazine.
Competition
As Chestnut goes for his 18th Mustard Belt, there are some highly ranked competitive eaters looking to take him down.
Patrick Bertoletti -- who won the 2024 edition of the contest with Chestnut out -- is the No. 2-ranked eater, according to majorleagueeating.com. Bertoletti owns numerous world records, having recently added a record in the Mass Hole Donuts discipline by consuming 100.5 doughnut holes in 10 minutes.
Major League Eating's No. 3 eater, Geoffrey Esper, will be competing on Coney Island as well. Esper's most recent record came in 2022, when he polished off 32.25 4-ounce egg rolls in eight minutes.
Matthew Stonie, the last man to beat Chestnut head-to-head in this event -- a decade ago in 2015 -- is not slated to compete.
Chestnut vs. other GOATs
Competitive eating is typically an individual sport, with just one person against the competition.
Chestnut has won the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest 17 of the past 19 years and was on a streak of eight consecutive championships before missing the 2024 competition. Chestnut is ruling his sport in an era when he compares favorably with champions in other individual sports:
Rafael Nadal: In 18 years, from 2005 to 2022, he won 14 French Open titles.
Kelly Slater: He had 11 World Surf League crowns from 1994 to 2011.
Martina Navratilova: From 1978 to 1990, she won nine Wimbledon singles titles, including six in a row from 1982 to 1987.
Tiger Woods: Won at least one major championship in every year except two (2003, 2004) from 1997 to 2008. That included the "Tiger Slam" from 2000 to 2001 when he held all four major titles at one time.
In team sports, the championship leaders in the four majors are: Bill Russell (NBA) and Henri Richard (NHL), with 11, Yogi Berra (MLB) with 10 and Tom Brady (NFL) with seven.
Miki Sudo: Dominating the world of women's competitive eating
Miki Sudo is the world-record holder in hot dogs eaten among women -- setting the mark with 51 in 2024 -- and has won 11 of the 15 women's competitions held since 2011 (previously the event was coed).
Sudo missed the 2021 event -- won by Michelle Lesco -- while pregnant with her son Max, meaning she has won the event 11 consecutive times while part of the field.
But it's not just hot dogs for Sudo: She also holds four other competitive eating records:
Ice cream, short form: 16.5 pints of vanilla ice cream in six minutes (2017)
Kimchi: 8.5 pounds in six minutes (2013)
Wild rice hotdish: 14 pounds in eight minutes (2019)
Corn dogs: 21 5.6-ounce corn dogs in eight minutes (2022)
Can Sudo top her record-setting performance from 2024 at this year's edition of the contest (Saturday at 10:45 a.m. ET on ESPN3)?
ESPN Stats & Information contributed research.