Regarding Levels. When he said "levels don't matter in PvP in Arena" in the previous chapters, he was saying "if you're skilled enough, you can overcome a level difference" meaning that unlike most games a 10 level difference of stats CAN be overcome with skill. So he could still technically lose to a lv 30-40 at lv 50 if they had the skill to overcome the level gap and bleed him out like he did to the armored guy previously.
So the more skilled you are, the more your level and stats matter. But they wont make you invincible to low levels if you don't have the skill to back it up.