I use pads, but I don't really get into fighting games much. I'd say most aficionados and tourney types use the stick whether they grew up in the arcade era or not. It's considered to be superior and though I have no clue personally, there's probably something to that.... just like using M&KB for RTS is better. I really doubt it's just a fad thing.

Of course, peripheral makers are making a mint off of those things, so maybe they secretly are propagating the lie to the fighting game communities.