Oh I have no doubt that I'll be able to beat them. I'm actually now quite a few tech levels ahead of what my own fleet was. I was in dire ressource shortage after fighting a drawn-out war against an NPR so I never got around to creating and refitting new designs. Instead I focused on getting ressources, fix the wealth situation and get my production in order.
I didn't go looking for the fight. Chance encounter while my fleets were on their way back for some slight repairs and overhaul. I, realistically, had no way to go, so I took the chance. These were also my first real warships, they did quite well. . but I found several oversights that I'll correct in the next generation.
They were quite far away from home, so I'm in no giant hurry to rush out new designs. For the time being, I'm beefing up my system defenses with some of my cheaper warship designs and some FACs, while I wait for some more key techs that are about to trickle in.