% Dummy contents:
H = axes;
plot(1:10);
drawnow;
% Get original ticks:
XTick = H.XTick;
XLabel = H.XTickLabel;
nTick = numel(XTick);
% Calculate modified positions, omit the marginal ticks:
YL = H.YLim;
Ypos = repmat(YL(1) + (YL(2) - YL(1)) / 40, 1, nTick - 2);
text(XTick(2:nTick-1), Ypos, XLabel(2:nTick-1), ...
'HorizontalAlignment', 'center', 'VerticalAlignment', 'bottom')
% Remove original tick labels:
H.XTickLabel = {};
