Joey Chestnut Beats Kobayashi In Hot Dog Eating Contest In Las Vegas

Joey Chestnut and his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi went head-to-head in a hot dog eating contest for the first time in 15 years ... with Joey winning in a landslide and setting a record in the process.

The rivals matched up Monday on 'Unfinished Beef,' a Netflix special live from Las Vegas, and stuffed their faces full of wieners and buns ... with a huge crowd cheering them on.

Joey cruised to victory ... leading all the way. When the 10-minute timer expired, Joey's total sat at 83 hot dogs ... compared to a final tally of 66 for Kobayahsi.

It's a new world record for Joey ... who took home a hot dog trophy and a wrestling belt, along with bragging rights over Kobayashi.

The showdown was 15 years in the making ... Joey and Kobayashi last went at it way back in 2009 at the traditional Nathan's competition in Coney Island ... when Jaws beat Kobayashi to defend his mustard belt.

Rob Riggle and Nikki Bella hosted the event ... the first time Nikki's been in public since her husband, "Dancing With the Stars" pro Artem Chigvintsev, was arrested Thursday for domestic violence.

Nikki, who got a ton of love from the crowd, wasn't wearing her wedding ring ... and didn't let the incident affect her job.

Joey's winning margin even grew after the buzzer ... with Kobayashi being deducted one hot dog and dropping from 67 to 66 after all his wiener scraps and bun crumbs were weighed out.

The rules for this one called for no dunking hot dogs in water ... and Joey says he had to learn a whole new way to guzzle glizzies.

After pounding 83 wieners and buns, something tells us Joey isn't hitting a Vegas buffet on this trip. 😆