Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, the hot-dog eating champ of New York City’s Coney Island, may be out of commission for next week’s annual July 4th contest.

The six-time winner, 29 (and, despite his yearly high-fat and sodium and carbohydrate gorge, a svelte 165 lbs.), has been diagnosed with arthritis of the jaw, he writes ruefully on his Web site, where he says: “My jaw refused to fight anymore … [it] has abandoned the frontline.”

According to Kobayashi’s message, “Already I can’t open my jaws more than just a little bit. There’s no pain only if I open my mouth about enough for one finger. More than that is painful and I can’t open it.”