>>725480585
It depends on the move.
Average gangsters after ducking the jump punch you can jab to interrupt the followup punch and regain tempo.
Kick ladies you can't interrupt while they're in the air but any other time you can stop their combos with a jab.
Bodyguards that do the one-two roundhouse you can jab after the one-two to interrupt the kick.
You NEED to learn to always be on the offensive especially in master mode when your posture bar gets raped in 3 hits.
Sweeping is good but not for ground pounding. Against a big group you want to keep half the encounter on the ground while you deal with the other half, which is easy since you can knock down 2 guys with one sweep in tight spaces. Focus sweep is doubly good since it keeps one annoying guy down for like 8 seconds while you deal with everyone else.
Also go with vertical strikes focus instead of eye punch. You can keep a stage boss stunned long enough to knock down 3/4 of their structure. Vertical strikes -> rising claw combo -> light combo -> palm strike and chasing trip kick.