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Conor McGregor is scheduled to appear Thursday in a Brooklyn courtroom

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Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is scheduled to appear Thursday in a Brooklyn courtroom, where an expected plea deal will move him closer to a return to fighting after nearly a two-year absence.

McGregor is facing multiple charges, the most serious of which are two criminal mischief felonies for leading a band of associates in the April attack of a bus carrying many UFC fighters at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, including McGregor’s likely next opponent, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The UFC would likely move swiftly to arrange a McGregor fight date, with cards scheduled in Las Vegas on Oct. 6 and Dec. 29, and at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 3.

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Two fighters, flyweight Ray Borg and lightweight Michael Chiesa, were injured by flying glass when McGregor threw a hand truck at a bus window, and the plea bargain could allow them to pursue a civil lawsuit against Ireland’s McGregor if he admits to wrongdoing by pleading to a misdemeanor or a violation.

Attorney Dmitriy Shakhnevich, who practices in Brooklyn, said “the most important thing here is to preserve his immigration status and ability to travel [in and out of the U.S.], and,” pleas short of felonies, “would likely satisfy that requirement.”

A plea deal will also determine if the violation remains on McGregor’s lifetime criminal record or can be settled with duties such as paying a fine or providing community service, Shakhnevich said.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire

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